Benbecula, Gunisary Bay
Causeway (Prehistoric), Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name Benbecula, Gunisary Bay
Classification Causeway (Prehistoric), Dun (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 9922
Site Number NF74NE 9
NGR NF 7985 4916
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9922
- Council Western Isles
- Parish South Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF74NE 9 7985 4916.
(NF 7985 4916) A small island, in the north end of Gunisary Bay, about 700 yards north of Creagorry, Benbecula, is occupied by the scanty remains of a dun, only a narrow ring of stones round the margin being left. A submerged causeway, 15 yards long, connects the dun to the north end of the loch.
RCAHMS 1928.
The dun is as described above: there are no surveyable remains. Causeway partly submerged.
Visited by OS (R D) 17 May 1965.
Field Visit (21 July 1915)
Dun, Gunisary Bay.
Some 700 yards due north of the hotel at Creagorry, in the north end of Gunisary Bay, a small loch lying to the east of the road, is a small island rising some 3 feet above the level of the water, occupied by the very scanty remains of a dun. Only a narrow ring of stones round the margin is left, but a submerged causeway, some 15 yards in length, connects the dun with the northern end of the loch. The dun has been oval, measuring about 50 feet from north to south and 40 feet from east to west.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 21 July 1915.
OS map: South Uist xlvi (unnoted).
Field Visit (4 July 2022 - 28 July 2022)
NF 8726 7470–NF 7463 1688 The 2022 field season for the Islands of Stone project set out to investigate a number of archaeological islets located in North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. The primary aim of this fieldwork was to identify datable material culture associated with crannogs (or artificial islands), with a particular focus on the Neolithic. The target sites were identified from a database of archaeological islets generated through a variety of means: evaluation of existing NRHE/HER records, data mining, machine learning and preliminary ground surveys carried out by the Uist Community Archaeology Group (UCAG). Most of the sites investigated were already recorded in the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) and/or Historic Environment Record (HER), but few had previously been surveyed in detail, with the majority having received only cursory investigation from the loch shore.
The 2022 field season managed to redress this limited knowledge by investigating 37 islets in 23 lochs. Twenty-five were previously known sites recorded in the NRHE/HER; the other 12 were ‘sites with potential’ newly identified through computer-based analysis of aerial imagery (machine learning).
Survey of all sites involved two primary aspects: above water and below water investigations. The primary means of investigation was in-water inspection. This was done on snorkel for shallower sites and on SCUBA for deeper sites by a team of five divers. When deemed useful and feasible, aerial (UAV) photogrammetry and LiDAR surveys, as well as on-islet in-person inspections, were conducted to provide further information regarding the nature and construction of each islet (and perhaps indications of period, if the surface supported structures). In total, Neolithic pottery was recovered from three lochs, and one new site (which produced Iron Age pottery) was identified. Numerous additional sites produced pottery (and other material culture) and/or organics that are still being analysed. More detailed reporting will be available once analysis is completed.
Previously-known sites visited (Grid Reference, Site Name,
Canmore ID):
NF 74696 75332, Eilean Domhnuill, 10069
NF 76612 74375, Loch nan Gearrachun, 10087
NF 76752 74189, Loch nan Gearrachun, 10076
NF 7678 7382, Loch nan Clachan, 10094
NF 8075 7266, Dun Eashader, 10375
NF 8726 7470, Oban Trumisgarry, 10353
NF 89076 74551, Dunan Dubh, 10367
NF 89309 74168, Loch an Duin, 10351
NF 89612 73914, Loch Bru, 10369
NF 8075 6450, Clachan, 10256
NF 8456 5757, Loch An Fhaing, 10191
NF 7985 4916, Gunisary Bay, 9922
NF 7969 4592, Loch an Daill, 9921
NF 76707 35686, Tobha Bheag, 270754
NF 76800 35678, Tobha Bheag, 270753
NF 76 30, Ormiclate, 9894
NF 74486 31154, Ormacleit, 270831
NF 7445 2723, Kildonan, 9846
NF 74824 25883, Loch Cnoc a’ Buidhe, 9826
NF 7427 1919, Eilean Chreamh, 9794
NF 7462 1907, Dun na Cille, 9788
NF 7468 1692, Loch an Eilean, 270796
NF 7463 1688, Loch an Eilean, 270812
NF 88885 73730, Dun Torcuill, 10364
NF 8430 6090, Dun Ban, 10261
Newly identified site (Grid Reference, Site Name, Canmore ID): NF 81130 48686, Ob Saile, 373291
Stephanie Blankshein, Duncan Garrow and Fraser Sturt – University of Southampton and University of Reading
(Source: DES Volume 23)