Monument record 1083 - ULTACH FHINN, CRAONAVAL, NORTH UIST

NF86SW 10 8376 6235.

(Area : NF 837 623) (RCAHMS 1928) Ultach Fhinn is a recumbent megalith 23ft 1ins long with a maximum width of 6ft 6ins and a minimum thickness of c. 16ins. It lies approximately N-S, resting upon half a dozen comparatively small stones which are in turn supported by an underlying cairn (not mentioned by the Commission). Towards the south end of the slab is a cavity 2ft in height and along its outer edges and roughly parallel, the tops of slender enclosing walls are visible, exactly at present surface level. There is no doubt that the site is artificial (E Beveridge 1911).
It lies on the southern shoulder of Craonaval at an elevation of 100ft OD, overlooking Loch Caravat, 300 yards to the south.
E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928.

NF 8376 6235. This large recumbent stone is as described by Beveridge and lies in the centre of a shapeless, heather-covered mound of earth and stone, but whether this is a cairn cannot be determined without excavation.
The cavities below the stone could be of any period, and the stone has obviously been used as a shelter from time to time.
Some 6.0m. to the west are two shieling-type structures, one oval, measuring 2.2m x 1.2m, and the other 8-shaped, measuring 0.9m and 1.2m in diameter respectively.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (W D J) 9 June 1965.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 256 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 82-3, No. 247 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.