Monument record 1136 - DRUIM NA H-UAMHA, VALLAQUIE, NORTH UIST

NF87NE 2 8646 7545.

(NF 8645 7546) Erd House (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Earth-house, Druim na h-Uamha. The RCAHMS state that the site of this earth-house is to be recognised by a sandy hollow in the surface of a mound amid kitchen refuse.
The structure was discovered during ploughing, c. 1861, by the displacement of a roof lintel-slab at a depth of 3ft. Excavation by Carmichael in April 1871 showed it to have been a curved gallery of regular outline 20ft long in an arc of about 50 degres, with vertical parallel walls 5ft 8ins apart and 5ft high. The west end stood at right angles to the side walls but the east end termin- ated in an angular curve. Although robbed of many of its lintel-slabs between 1861 and 1871 one remained in the centre of the gallery and another spanned the walls 4 1/4ft to the west. From this slab to the west end wall the gallery was covered by a domed roof rising to a height of 7 ft from the floor and 4 ft 8 ins wide inside....The apex of this roof was 3ft below ground level.
The gallery was entered in the centre of its south wall by a doorway 2ft 10ins wide at floor level tapering to 2ft 2ins at a height of 2ft 10ins. It was blocked by sand and stones 2 1/2ft beyond its threshold. Above this doorway was a recess or cupboard 1ft 10ins wide and deep and 1ft high. In the north wall were similar recesses.
Opposite the entrance in the middle of the gallery a midden was found containing bones of deer and domestic animals, shells, pottery and the upper half of a small quern.
RCAHMS 1928; A A Carmichael 1874.

As described by the RCAHMS. The exact position of this earth-house was pointed out by Mr J Macdonald at NF 8646 7545.
Site surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 22 June 1965.

Vallaquie (NF 863754) is listed among a number of sand dune sites in North Uist from which sherds of pottery (classified as iron age in 1979) were donated to NMAS by Miss M Harman.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1978; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1979.

The site at Druim na h-Uamha is considerably more complicated than suggested by earlier investigations. The structure excavated and recorded by Carmichael does not appear to be a souterrain and was not clearly visible in the geophysical survey data, although this is likely to be a result of the geohpysical properties of excavated features. There is however clear evidence for a concentration of structures, including at least one probably sourterrain similar to those at Newton House and Cnoc a' Chaisteal. Although the relationships and dating between the structures and the probably souterrain is impossible to develop withouth further investigation, the sizeable nature of some of the apparent masonry is suggestive of broch-like architecture. It would also appear that the structures extend beyond the mound to the west and are quite deeply buried in places. The exact nature of this concentration of possible enclosures, pits, walls and platforms or rubble is unclear, but the lack of considerable magnetic enhancement differentiates them from the settlement associated with the mound and suggests a function other than domestic or industrial.
Moore, 2007, 4.4

F W L Thomas, 1866-8, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 170-1 plan (Bibliographic reference). SWE7733.

A A Carmichael, 1874, J Anthrop Inst, 272-5 illusts. (Bibliographic reference). SWE11896.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 114-15 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 90, No. 274 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

PSAS, 1975-6, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 333 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9731.

PSAS, 1976-7, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 385 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8441.

M Harman, 1982, Hebridean Naturalist (Bibliographic reference). SWE13436.

C and J Bourke and Close-Brook, 1989, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 227, 234 illus 2 (Bibliographic reference). SWE24848.

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

James Moore, Orkney College Geophysics Unit, 2007, North Uist Souterrains (Unpublished document). SWE41149.

James Moore, Orkney College Geophysics Unit, 2008, North Uist Souterrains: Geophysical Suvey Report (Unpublished document). SWE41186.