South Uist, Daliburgh, Sidhean A' Phiobaire
Aisled Roundhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Midden (Iron Age), Wheelhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Pin(S) (Iron Age)
Site Name South Uist, Daliburgh, Sidhean A' Phiobaire
Classification Aisled Roundhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Midden (Iron Age), Wheelhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Pin(S) (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Sithean A' Phiobaire
Canmore ID 9863
Site Number NF72SW 4
NGR NF 734 214
NGR Description NF c. 734 214
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9863
- Council Western Isles
- Parish South Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF72SW 4 c. 734 214.
See also NF72SW 10.
(Area NF 734 214) At Sithean a Phiobaire (the piper's fairy hill) near Daliburgh, South Uist, a wheelhouse was removed and the stone used to build a wall round the old graveyard at Hallan. Ring-headed pin(s) dated to between AD. 100-200 were found in the midden, which also contained large quantities of winkle shells. Lethbridge (T C Lethbridge 1952 and 1928) illustrates iron and bone pins and pottery from the site. Wedderspoon (J Wedderspoon 1915) notes that a large boulder,with a basin-shaped cavity, was removed to Askernish, (NF 736 239) He also notes a midden southwards along the machar towards Kilpheder. It extended 20 yds. northwards, until it was lost in a sandhill, from the old shore line on the north side of a muddy basin, about two acres in extent, and known locally as the Old Loch. The midden yielded two hammer stones, several horn pins, broken bone needles, pottery with herring-bone markings, etc. (Possibly an aisled round-house)
T C Lethbridge 1928 and 1952; J Wedderspoon 1915.
The sites of this wheelhouse and associated middens were not located.
Visited by OS (W D J) 6 May 1965.
Field Visit (28 August 1914)
Kitchen Middens, Daliburgh.
Among the sand-hills extending for about a mile along the coast to the west of the township of Daliburgh are a number of very fine kitchen middens, which have yielded a large number of relics, including hand-made pottery, bone pins, some bronzes, and large numbers of animal bones, as well as shells.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 28 August 1914.
OS map: South Uist Iv and lvii.
Publication Account (2007)
NF72 5 SITHEAN a' PHIOBAIRE
NF/734214
This unexcavated probable wheel-house (the name means 'the piper's fairy hill') was marked only by a midden but the structure "was removed to build a wall round a nearby graveyard" some time before 1952 [2, 176]. Lethbridge illustrates some pins which were found in the midden [2, fig. 5, nos. 6-11]. They include an iron ring-headed pin of northern type, and 5 bone pins of late Iron Age type. These last include a hipped pin with a collar below the slightly expanded head, 2 with cylindrical heads (one grooved horizontally) and one with a more ball-shaped head and with a hipped shank.
This roundhouse site – if that is what it was – evidently had a longer occupation than most in the area. In addition to the rare iron ring-headed pin of the middle Iron Age the five bone pins indicate a late Iron Age occupation from the 7th century onwards. The large plain sherd indicates the same; it is closely similar to two of the plain rim sherds from Dun Cuier which can hardly be earlier than the 7th century. This fragment also reminds us that the style is very old, being prominent in the late Bronze Age of the mainland (known as the Dunagoil ware vase) but not having been found in any intermediate horizons.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF 72 SW 4: 2. Lethbridge 1952: 3. Lethbridge 1928, 179: 4. Wedderspoon 1915, 327-28 and 330.
E W MacKie 2007
