Monument record 1151 - OBAN SKIBINISH, EILEAN HOLSTA, NORTH UIST

NF87NW 10 8348 7518.

(Area: NF 835 751) Eilean Holsta is a rock which has been occupied as a place of defence close to Oban Skibinish, with a much damaged causeway which curves southwards to the shore at Rudha nan Cnamh.
The main structure was enclosed by a thick wall, portions of which are visible on the south and west, but few traces remain near the more exposed edges. The entrance was at the south end and, outside the fort at mid-south was a supplementary wall with an eastward curve as if to guard the entrance. Kitchen-midden ashes have been found.
E Beveridge 1911.

The dun and causeway on Eilean Holsta (NF 8348 7518) are generally as described above. The wall can still be traced on the south and east but not the west side, where it merges with the natural rock. It has a maximum height of 1.5m, 0.7m wide, and is constructed of large boulders built on top of the natural rock. The entrance, 0.6m wide, is in the south-east. A crude building, c. 2.5m by 2.0m and built onto the east side of a large rock outcrop, can be traced in the centre near the entrance, composed of a single course of small rocks, but this may be a fortuitous arrangement.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 20 June 1965.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 220-1 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 56-7, No. 182 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.