Monument record 960 - SITHEAN TUATH, BALRANALD, NORTH UIST

NF77SW 6 7193 7017.

(NF 7193 7017) Sithean Tuath (NAT)
OS 6'map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Sithean Tuath, a small hillock 50ft across and 7 to 8ft high, with a summit 26ft in diameter, was doubtless at one time an islet in the loch. Its base has apparently been surrounded by a wall, which suggests that it may be the site of a dun.
E Beveridge 1911.

Sithean Tuath is a conspicuous, grass-covered, earthen mound, as described above. It is unlikely to have been the site of a dun. Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (J T T) 16 June 1965.

This site is oval on plan, some 15m N-S by 12m and over 2m high, and stands in a boggy area, perhaps formerly the edge of a loch. Erosion by stock has revealed that the mound is composed of large quantities of small fire-cracked stones. Traces of larger stones near the base may indicate some underlying structure. This is, so far as the contributor is aware, the first convincing burnt mound identified in the Outer Hebrides. The place-name suggests a pre-medieval date.
N Fojut 1994.

Burnt mounds commonly prove to be of Bronze Age date MML

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 190 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

N Fojut, 1994, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 95 (Bibliographic reference). SWE34038.