Monument record 1194 - DUN TORCUILL, LOCH AN DUIN, NORTH UIST

NF87SE 3 8887 7373.

(NF 8887 7373) Dun Torcuill (OE)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Dun Torcuill is perhaps the finest example of a broch in North Uist (it is considered by Feachem to be a galleried dun).
Connected to the shore by a massive causeway, the island is completely walled around its edge, the southern and larger part being occupied by the broch proper, while the remainder forms an annexe enclosed within a separate rampart.
The central area contained a secondary erection of oblong shape similar to that at Dun an Sticer (NF 87 NE 1) and is probably dated 1542-1618. (E Beveridge 1911)
Full description and plan. (RCAHMS 1928)
E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928; R W Feachem 1963.

Dun Torcuill is a galleried dun and not a broch. It measures 18.6m NW to SE by 16.3m, with walls from 2.3m to 3.8m thick and up to 3.0m high externally and 2.1m internally. The entrance and gallery are still visible in the NW arc.
The 'secondary erection' noticed by Beveridge is obscured by tumbled stone which occupies the whole of the centre.
Adjoining the outer wall-face of the dun on the N are two later enclosures, with walls up to 1.9m thick and 1.3m high, the more westerly of which blocks the entrance to the dun. Traces of a tumbled drystone wall, 0.8m maximum height, start from the wall-junction of the N enclosure, continue around the water's edge on the W side of the islet and then possibly rejoin the west side of the dun: debris from the dun hides any other indications of the an outer curtain wall alleged by Beveridge.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (N K B) 20 June 1965.

Thomas, F. W. L., 1890, Archaeol Scot (Bibliographic reference). SWE7756.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 149-52, no. 7 illust. (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 52-3, No. 172 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

R W Feachem, 1963b, A Guide to Prehistoric Scotland, 183 (Bibliographic reference). SWE2141.