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Barra, Loch Nic Ruaidhe
Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Barra, Loch Nic Ruaidhe
Classification Dun (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 9777
Site Number NF70SW 3
NGR NF 7025 0188
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9777
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Barra
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF70SW 3 7025 0188.
(NF 7025 0188) Dun (NR)
OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)
A ruin in Loch nic Ruaidhe is respectively described as :- A tumbled mass of stones rising some 8ft above the water, the remains of a dun on one of the smaller islets in the NE corner of the loch, with a number of boulders, possibly the commencement of a sunk causeway, stretching out towards it from the N shore (RCAHMS 1928).
and:
A crannog with tumbled walling, with a causeway leading to it from the shore by way of a second and larger island (A Young 1958).
Neither authority suggests that there is more than one island on the loch with a 'ruin' on it.
RCAHMS 1928; A Young 1958.
This scrub-covered conical island, measuring 22.0m E to W and situated approx. 30.0m from the N shore of the loch, was inaccessible at the time of investigation, but appears to be as described by the RCAHMS. Vague traces of a wall-face can be seen through the tumble of stones which surrounds the island.
Large boulders beneath the surface of the water, leading from the N shore of the loch to the island, are probably the remains of a causeway. This island is the only one which appears to have ruins on it.
Visited by OS (N K B) 16 May 1965.
Scheduled as 'Loch nic Ruaidhe, dun, Barra... the remains of a later prehistoric (Iron Age) island dun'.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 8 November 2005.
Field Visit (7 June 1915)
Dun, Loch nic Ruaidhe, Balnabodach.
Surrounded by hills, about 5/8 mile west of Balnabodach, at an elevation of nearly 200 feet above sea-level, is a small loch called Loch nic Ruaidhe, on which are several small islets. On one of the smallest, in the north-east corner of the loch, about 30 yards from the northern shore, is a tumbled mass of stones, the ruins of a dun, rising some 8 feet above the water, and surmounted by a luxurious growth of ferns, brambles and brushwood. Viewed from the shore practically no building can be seen, but evidently the dun has been oval on plan, with the wall built round the water's edge. Stretching out from the northern shore of the loch towards the dun is a number of boulders, possibly the commencement of a sunk causeway.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 7 June 1915.
OS map: Barra lxv.
