Monument record 2497 - DUN AN STICER, LOCH AN STICER, PORT NAN LONG, NORTH UIST

NF87NE 1 8972 7768.

(NF 8972 7768) Dun an Sticer (NR)
OS 6' map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Dun an Sticer: circular fort, 60ft diameter, broken by a gap in the north. The massive outer wall and evidence of a gallery, together with other details, suggest that it was a broch. It is approached by a causeway. Finds include pottery.
A secondary rectangular structure has been erected inside, which may be associated with the traditional occupation of the site by Hugh, son of Archibald the Clerk, c. 1601-2 (RCAHMS 1928)
Broch - full description.
E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928.

Dun an Sticer (name confirmed locally) survives to a height externally of 3.6m and is a galleried dun, not a broch not a broch as claimed above. It is sub-circular, the wall-thickness is uneven and not more than 3.5m, its position on an islet is typical of a dun, and there appears to be no batter on the outside wall-face. It has been greatly mutilated in the NW and around the entrance in the west but the gallery, 1.0m wide, can still be traced in places.
The secondary drystone building, measuring 10.0m by 4.6m internally and 1.7m below the present top of the dun, must have been a fortified structure as ther is an emdrasure in the NW wall. It is entered from the NW and SW through passages 1.1m wide. The wall at the SW entrance is 2.5m thick.
Vague traces of a possible small building can be seen between the SE wall of the inner building and the inner wall of the dun: adjoining the outer wall-face of the dun on the east are two stock enclosures, measuring 7.8 x 5.0m and 9.0 x 5.5m over grass-covered walls 0.8 m. high.
A causeway connects the dun to Eilean na Mi-chomhairle, and from there to the north shore of the loch. It is 3.0m wide, bordered by large stones and suitable for wheeled traffic, which suggests that it may be contemporary with the secondary structure or the stock enclosures. Another causeway, from Eilean na Mi-chomhairle to the south shore of the loch, is much smaller, and is typical of those associated with duns. Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 22 June 1965.

Eilean na Mi-chomhairle, through heavily overgrown in places, also contains obvious archaeological remains. Visited September 1998, MML

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 138-144 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 51-2, No. 171 plan (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

I A Crawford, 1965a, Scot Stud, 45-6, 58 (Bibliographic reference). SWE2130.

J N G and M Ritchie and Harman, 1985, Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Argyll and the Western Isles, 128, no. 57 (Bibliographic reference). SWE6206.

Centre for Field Archaeology, 2005, Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, North Uist (Bibliographic reference). SWE41070.