Monument record 1197 - DUNAN DUBH, NORTH UIST

NF87SE 5 8904 7454.

(NF 8904 7454) Dunan Dubh (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1911)

Dunan Dubh is situated near the centre of Loch a'Mheirbh and is approached by a causeway from the N bank.
The islet shows an outcrop of natural rock and along its base, nearly a yard from the water's edge, traces of a surrounding wall are still visible on the N and S. The central mound is so overgrown that nothing is visible of the interior structure that must have existed there.
E Beveridge 1911.

As described above.
Visited by OS (N K B) 18 June 1965.

Snorkel survey revealed that the islet is connected to the shore by a narrow winding causeway around 43m in length, which makes use of a natural bedrock outcrop sitting halfway between the shore and the islet. The causeway approaches the islet from the north but instead curves and connects to the islet on its northeast side. In some places it is only a single stone thick. A few highly abraded bits of pottery were found. Quartz is abundant on the loch bed around the site, but no clearly worked quartz was evident. Given its mounded profile, which is composed of large quantities of portable stone, it is possible that the remains of a dun or later structure still exists on the islet and is
obscured by surface vegetation.
Blankshein.S et al (2022).

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 149 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

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

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