Monument record 890 - BAC MIC CONNAIN, VALLAY, NORTH UIST

NF77NE 5 7694 7619.

(Area : NF 771 761) Bac Mhic Connain is a round-house discovered and excavated by Beveridge in 1919. It is situated on a sand-covered hillock on the tidal islet of Vallay, about 180 yards N of the bay at Saltam, in Vallay Sound, and a quarter-mile NW of vallay House.

Occupation over a long period was attested by the finds which included objects of stone (including some casting moulds), iron, bronze, bone and deerhorn, in addition to pottery which included a small fragment of Samian. A knife handle of cetacean bone bore an Ogham inscription which may be provisionally dated AD 6th to 8th century. The buildings had been extensively reconstructed during their use, and recently quarried: the plan should be regarded as tentative. (J G Callander 1932; L Scott 1948) Various finds are in the NMAS.
J G Callander 1932; L Scott 1948; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1922; 1923; 1929.

The mutilated remains of this round-house, generally as planned by E Beveridge, are at NF 7694 7619.
Most of the internal diameter and five piers of the main building can be traced as wall-footings barely 0.3m high. The inside face of the second circular structure still stands to a height of 1.0 m. and the thickness of the walls cannot be ascertained. The adjoining passages and rectangular structure are too amorphous for survey.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (J T T) 22 June 1965.

The Samian is possibly 2nd century AD.
A S Robertson 1970.

Bone dice found at unstated location; RMS GNB 65. Numbered 3, 6, 4, 5. Dots enclosed by circles. 33 x 9mm.
D L Clarke 1970; E W Mackie 1971.

Hanging-bowl escutcheon.
L Laing and J Laing 1986.

PSAS, 1921-2, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 12-13 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9178.

PSAS, 1922-3, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 110 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9014.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 89, No. 271 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

PSAS, 1928-9, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 363 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9618.

J G Callander, 1931-2a, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 42-66 plan, illusts. (Bibliographic reference). SWE346.

L Scott, 1948, Proc Prehist Soc, 75-6 (Bibliographic reference). SWE6434.

R F Tylecote, 1962, Metallurgy in Archaeology: a prehistory of metallurgy in the British Isles, 36-7, 194, 199 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8414.

A S Robertson, 1970a, Britannia, table 4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE6318.

D V Clarke, 1970a, Proc Prehist Soc, 229, No. 4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE1063.

E W MacKie, 1971a, Glasgow Archaeol J, 70 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4650.

M Macgregor, 1976, Early Celtic Art in North Britain, 9, 141, 143, 163, No. 271 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4422.

L and J Laing and Laing, 1986, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 215 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3802.

A Lane, 1987, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 55, 56 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3842.

Y Hallen, 1994, Proc Soc Antiq Scot (Bibliographic reference). SWE34825.