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North Uist, Dun Na Mairbhe
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)
Site Name North Uist, Dun Na Mairbhe
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 10342
Site Number NF87SE 1
NGR NF 8628 7472
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10342
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF87SE 1 8628 7472.
(NF 8627 7474) Dun na Mairbhe (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)
Dun na Mairbhe stood on a small tidal islet close to the east side of Ahmore Strand at Trumisgarry.
The main fort walls are traceable, about 62ft in diameter. At a distance of about 12ft on the east, but only 4 to 5ft on the steeper west side there is an outer wall. It is clearly visible on the NW but only to be inferred at the west end where it has totally disappeared.
Adjoining the steep west side is a flat semicircular space, also at one time protected by a wall, perhaps as an annexe to the 'fort' and communicating directly with it by a steep path.
The 'ordinary approach' was evidently up a slope to the SE.
E Beveridge 1911.
Dun na Mairbhe is generally as described above. The inner wall face is obscured by tumble except for a single stone on the north but the outer wall face can be seen clearly, in the SW, as a single course of large broch-like stones, 0.8m maximum height, forming a circle c. 18.6m in diameter with a conjectural wall-thickness of approx. 5.8m. No entrance is evident.
The vague line of a wall, 0.3m high, is traceable to the N and E, but this may be no more than a fortuitous arrangement of tumbled stones.
The drystone enclosure to the west, with walls 0.6m maximum height and thickness, is as described by Beveridge. The surviving features - size, shape, and construction - suggest this may be a broch, but the varying width of walling mitigates against it.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 16 June 1965.
Field Visit (12 August 1914)
Dun na Mairbhe, Trumisgarry.
The remains of Dun na Mairbhe occupy the summit of a rocky tidal islet only surrounded by water at high tide, on the east side of Ahmore Strand, about 200 yards south-west of Trumisgarry farm. On the west the rock is precipitous, but towards the east it tails away in a declivity, and access to the summit is obtained by a gradual slope from the south-east. The fort has almost entirely been removed, only the outline remaining in the shape of a setting of large blocks of stone, the outer foundation course, which is traceable almost round the entire circumference. The dun has been circular with an external diameter of about 61 feet. On a ledge to the south-west at the base of the rock, 7 feet above high water and 20 feet below the summit, is a semicircular enclosure measuring 50 feet from north-west to south-east and 35 feet from north-east to south-west, which is reached from the summit by a rough track slanting down the steep scarp.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 12 August 1914
OS map: North Uist xxxi.
Publication Account (2007)
NF87 1 DUN NA MHAIRBHE
NF/8627 7474
This probable broch near Trumis-garry, North Uist, stands on a small tidal islet close to the east side of the Ahmore strand. The outer face of the circular main wall is traceable and is about 18.3m (60 ft) in diameter, but there are no traces of an entrance; signs of an outer wall can be seen [1]. In 1965 doubts were expressed about the broch-like nature of the site because of the “varying width of walling”.[1].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF 87 SE 1: 2. Beveridge 1911, 224-5, no. 82.
E W MacKie 2007
