Lewis, Garrabost, Dun Mor
Enclosure (Post Medieval)(Possible), Promontory Fort (Prehistoric)(Possible)
Site Name Lewis, Garrabost, Dun Mor
Classification Enclosure (Post Medieval)(Possible), Promontory Fort (Prehistoric)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Eye Peninsula
Canmore ID 4394
Site Number NB53SW 3
NGR NB 5143 3392
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4394
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Stornoway
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NB53SW 3 5143 3392
(NB 513 339) Dun Mor (NR)
OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)
Dun Mor: the flat grassy top of a promontory, measuring 100ft ESE to WNW and 60ft across, rising about 18ft above a hollow on the landward side, has been encircled by a stone wall, built round the edge. In 1914 the best preserved part, that towards the land, was 6ft wide and 1ft high but most of the wall was obliterated.
RCAHMS 1928.
As described by RCAHMS. The wall is traceable round the E and N sides, but has evidently gone over the cliff on the W and S. No obvious entrance can be seen. The interior has been cultivated and the lazy beds override the wall on the E.
Visited by OS (A L F R) assistant archaeology officer, 23 April 1964.
Field Visit (23 June 1914)
Dun Mor, Garrabost, Eye Peninsula.
On an elevated promontory with precipitous sides, on the southern shore of Broad Bay some 600 yards north and a similar distance west of the Free Church Manse of Garrabost, are the very faint traces of Dun Mor. The flat grassy top of the promontory, which measures about 100 feet from east-south-east to west-northwest and some 60 feet across, rises some 18 feet above the hollow to the landward side, and it has been encircled by a wall of stone, now almost entirely obliterated, built round the edge. Towards the land, the best preserved part, it shows a width of 6 feet and a height of 1 foot.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 23 June 1914.
OS map: Lewis xxi.
Note (29 January 2015 - 31 May 2016)
An enclosure occupying the summit of a steep-sided hillock backing onto an angle in the cliff-line below Garrabost, was first identified as the remains of a fortification on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Island of Lewis, 1851, sheet 21), and has been described as such ever since. The hillock rises abruptly at the foot of the Garrabost crofts, standing about 7m above the ground on the E, but falling away almost sheer to the sea on the N, W and S. If indeed this is the site of a prehistoric fortification, its perimeter has been almost completely removed, for the bank extending along the crest of the hillock on the E is almost entirely earthen and seems more likely to be an enclosure associated with the post-medieval lazy-beds that cover the summit of the hillock and extend back to the foot of the crofts on the SE. Nevertheless, the area enclosed on the summit measures about 30m from E to W by 25m transversely (0.07ha). No entrance is visible.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 31 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC2768
