Monument record 1181 - LOCH AN DUIN, NORTH UIST

NF87SE 18 8927 7416.

About 50 yards form the eastern shore towards the northern end of Loch an Duin, there is a small oval flat rocky islet surrounded at the water's edge by a ring of tumbled stone, evidently the remains of a defensive wall, entirely destroyed except perhaps on the western side, where outside a small rock there seems to be one course of the outer face of the wall. The dun measures some 43ft from east to west and 34ft from north to south.
The island is connected to the eastern shore by a deeply submerged zig-zag causeway with one (RCAHMS 1928) or two (E Beveridge 1911) gaps in it.
RCAHMS 1928; E Beveridge 1911.

The island at NF 8927 7416 is largely artificial, composed mainly of loose rubble stones on and around natural rock. No internal structure could be identified but the causeway is distinct though submerged. The gaps could not be located.
Visited by OS (R D) 21 June 1965.

Loch an Duin is centrally located in a loch of the same name, a large tidal loch with erratic shoreline which sits to the north of Loch Maddy, North Uist. Dun Torcuill, the Iron Age broch constructed on an island, is located in the same loch to the southwest of this crannog, and the sites Dunan Dubh (IoS 12) and Loch Bru (IoS 16) are also connected to this loch via shallow narrow channels. Loch an Duin is connected to the shore via a substantial causeway which stretches in an S-shaped fashion for around 50m and is in some places up to 1.5m in width and c. 1m in height. The causeway terminates at a rocky shoreline that quickly rises 2m in elevation – an unusual feature as most causeways terminate at lower-lying locations that provide easy access between the causeway and the wider landscape. The islet is oblong in shape and partially submerged, rising less than 1m out of the water. It is built around a natural outcrop which is visible to on the westernmost extent of the islet (or the opposite side of the islet from the shore). Diver inspection around the site reveals that it is much larger than it appears on the surface, quickly dropping in depth to around 3m on the far side (or natural outcrop side) of the islet. Small pieces of pottery, wood and bone were found amongst the submerged stones on either side of the causeway. C14 dates from these finds gave Bronze Age & Iron Age dates.
Blankshein.S et al (2022).

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 152 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

Stephanie Blankshein, Angela Gannon, Duncan Garrow, Fraser Sturt, 2022, UIST CRANNOG SURVEY (Monograph). SWE41375.