Monument record 932 - GARRY IOCHDRACH, NORTH UIST

NF77SE 6 7723 7427.

(NF 7723 7427) Garry Iochdrach is an aisled round house situated close to the west edge of Vallay Strand, 300 yards NE of Cnoc a'Comhdhalach (NF77SE 3) and 500 yards NW of Eileann Maleit (NF77SE 5).
The site was excavated by Beveridge in 1912-3. The oval building shown in the plan to the north of the round house is modern, and the external structure shown as a harbour cannot in fact be such, having regard to the level of the sea, then or now. Finds comprised objects of stone, iron and bronze (including a 4th century coin of Constantius II), deerhorn and bone, etc. Pottery included two crucibles. Many of the finds are in the NMAS.
E Beveridge 1932; L Scottt 1948; Visible on RAF air photograph 540/509: Pt II: 4050-1: flown 23 May 1965.

The remains of this aisled round house are generally as described and planned above. The oval structure to the N of the round house appears to be contemporary and may be the remains of a wheelhouse.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
The name 'Garry Iochdrach' could not be confirmed.
Visited by OS (W D J) 20 June 1965.

See also NF86NW 13 and NF86NW 16 - Roman coins.

A radially partitioned roundhouse with walls up to 3.5m thick, lies beside the S shore of an inlet on the SW side of the Vallay Strand, on the slopes of a distinct knoll. It was excavated by Beveridge in 1912-13. The structure is partly revetted into the slope. The internal radial divisions of this structure defined seven peripheral chambers, most of which had been blocked from the central area by cross walls which appeared to show two phases of construction . The interiors of two of the chambers also showed two discrete floor levels. The central court was paved, and three successive hearths were identified, the earliest and latest separated by c.0.7m of deposits. Three ' sinks' (probably water tanks) were identified, two within adjacent peripheral chambers and third, recorded as secondary, within the central court. A rectilinear structure ( 'annexe') had been added to the north west side of the roundhouse. This rectilinear structure was later described by Scott
(1948, 74 ) as ' flimsy and secondary' and identified as the place where a 4th century Roman coin of Constantius 2nd was found. The entrance to the roundhouse was on the western side , by means of a long narrow passage which ran within the wall around the three landward sides of the structure, except where broken by the secondary rectilinear structure.

A circular structure with a rectilinear structure within it, was identified to the north, uphill from the roundhouse. It was dismissed by Scott (1948) as recent. The boulder-built elliptical boat noost or harbour (V123) on the foreshore beside the site, was argued by Beveridge as contemporary with the roundhouses , but was dismissed by Scott as recent. Plain, coarse pottery was recovered during inspection in 1997 from earth backing the W wall of the main structure, in an eroding face at the rear of the foreshore.

The radially - partitioned structure has architectural characteristics closely related to wheelhouses, and as such can be reasonably dated to the last centuries BC or first centuries AD. Evidence of later modification is evident, with the terminal date of occupation of no earlier than the 4th century provided by the discovery of a Roman coin. The presence of an intra - mural passage might suggest that the structure had been inserted into an earlier complex Atlantic roundhouse. Little is known of the second structure, or can be made out from surface traces.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 32-42 plan, fig.1 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

L Scott, 1948, Proc Prehist Soc, 73-4 plan (Bibliographic reference). SWE6434.

PSAS, 1962-3, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 365, No. 22 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8997.

T Fanning, 1983, Some aspects of the bronze ringed pin in Scotland, 341,No. 52 (Bibliographic reference). SWE2007.

Y Hallen, 1994, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 190 (Bibliographic reference). SWE34825.

Andrew Dunwell, 1998, Vallay Strand Project 1995-7 (Unpublished document). SWE41015.