Barra, Allasdale
Midden (Period Unassigned), Wheelhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Pin(S) (Bone)(Period Unassigned), Tweezers (Bronze)(Period Unassigned), Unidentified Pottery (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Barra, Allasdale
Classification Midden (Period Unassigned), Wheelhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Pin(S) (Bone)(Period Unassigned), Tweezers (Bronze)(Period Unassigned), Unidentified Pottery (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 9718
Site Number NF60SE 17
NGR NF 6563 0285
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9718
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Barra
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF60SE 17 6563 0285.
(NF 6563 0285) Large shell midden on old land surface newly exposed after being covered by sand. Decorated Broch or Wheelhouse pottery, bone pins, bronze tweezers, found: some of the finds are in the British Museum. Also ruins of buildings enclosed by stone walls. Walls of a passage-way (perhaps entrance to wheelhouse) remain to about 4ft high. Information from C F Tebbutt, 1959.
Probable wheelhouse, still covered by sand, is situated to west of main road and near popular beach. Shell midden is in wheelhouse.
Information contained in letter and back of photograph from C F Tebbutt to OS, 31 October 1959.
Finds: British Museum Accession no. 1958.4.9.
(Undated) information from British Museum accession register.
Sand dunes at Alasdale were found to contain the remains of a circular stone built structure lying 15ft. below present ground level. There was a kitchen midden in association with this. From around the midden came many sherds of broch type pottery. It is probable that the site is that of a wheelhouse. A short distance away another midden was found at a depth of 20ft. below ground level. From this came sherds of thicker coarser ware along with some bone tools and a bone toggle. Several pieces of flaked flint were also found.
R Crerar 1962.
The vague remains of a possible wheel-house can be seen, in an area of sand dunes. The perimeter of the structure and a narrow entrance passage on the east side are outlined in the sand by a single course of stones barely 0.1m high, giving the structure an oval shape measuring c. 16.0m NW-SE by c. 13.0m transversely. Within are a rickle of small stones, and the remains of a shell-midden which extends beyond the south side for c. 20.0m.
To the north and south of this structure are the remains of stone walls which may be associated.
The photograph supplied by Tebbutt shows the southern of these walls, taken from the west.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (W D J) 16 May 1965.
Archaeological Evaluation (May 2007)
NF 6561 0283 In May 2007 an evaluation was undertaken by Channel 4’s Time Team to investigate a number of cist graves and stone structures eroding out of the sand dunes. The aim of the evaluation was to investigate the nature of the burials and structures in a large sand dune blow-out, and to add to the results of an earlier rescue excavation by AOC Archaeology. The project also aimed to investigate a large earthen mound, said by local tradition to be a Viking burial mound.
The evaluation revealed stratified archaeological deposits potentially dating from the Late Neolithic to the Iron Age. These included a possible Neolithic building and associated cultivation soil; a number of Early Bronze Age burials in stone-lined cists, including inhumations and cremations, radiocarbon dated to 1880–1520 BC; and two Iron Age roundhouses, the earliest dating to 750–400 BC.
Evidence of Late Iron Age activity sealed beneath the sand dunes was identified through a geophysical survey,
which revealed the well preserved remains of a very large wheelhouse, the largest yet found on Barra, and initially identified by CF Tebbutt in the 1950s.
Investigation into the possible Viking burial mound found no evidence of a boat or buried structures, and it appears that this is merely a sand dune.
Archive: Paper records to be deposited with RCAHMS; finds to be deposited (subject to SAFAP) at Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway
Funder: Videotext Communications Ltd
Steve Thompson (Wessex Archaeology - on behalf of Time Team), 2008
Publication Account (2007)
NF60 1 ALLASDALE 2
NF/6563 0285
This is a probable wheelhouse in Barra, among sand dunes near the shore, which revealed itself in the presence of a shell midden on an old land surface under sand; “decorated broch or wheelhouse pottery, bone pins and bronze tweezers” were found, together with ruins of buildings enclosed by stone walls [1]. Traces of a possible entrance passage were noted in 1965.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF 60 SE 17: 2. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1962, 32.
E W MacKie 2007
