Monument record 904 - EILEAN A'GHALLAIN 2, LOCH AN EILEAN, GRIMINISH, NORTH UIST

NF77NW 2 7479 7598.

(NF 7479 7598) Dun a Ghallain (NR)
E Beveridge 1911.

The largest island in Loch an Eilein is Dun a'Ghallain. Partial excavation revealed an irregularly shaped polygonal structure of five or six sides with walls 10ft wide and now 2ft 6ins high, enclosing a paved area 36 to 44ft across. The entrance, in the NE corner, consists of a 20ft paved passage 2ft 6ins wide at the outside. For about 10ft from the outside it runs in a southerly direction, then bends sharply to the west. A secondary phase was noted.
Beveridge thought the structure had been connected with the other island (NF77NW 1) by a causeway. Finds included an iron dagger, a curved knife and rivets of Viking type, pottery and animal bones, including the vertebrae of a whale. (E Beveridge 1911)
The finds are in the NMAS. (PSAS 1912)
E Beveridge 1911; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1912.

The site is inaccessible and could not be investigated.
RCAHMS 1928.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 196-7, No. 64 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

PSAS, 1911-12, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 340 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9079.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 60, No. 191 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.