Monument record 1273 - LOCH NA CAIGINN, PORTAIN, NORTH UIST

NF97SE 2 9510 7199.

(NF 9510 7199) Dun (NR)
OS 62Map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)

The remains of a dun are situated in the N end of Loch na Caiginn, accessible over a substantial causeway. The island end of this interrupted causeway has been flanked by two lateral walls at right angles built out from the fort into the water. This elaborate defence is unusual. The island is oval in shape with indications of having been at one time completely surrounded by a wall close to the water's edge.
E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928.

All that remains of the dun, which is 12.0m in diameter, is the outer face of the wall, clearly visible to a height of 1.2m in the S. The causeway which rises 1.0m above the level of the loch, and is 1.3m wide, has two horn-like walls abutting at the island end which are probably later. A medieval farmstead, which has been built on and around the dun, consists of the greatly mutilated remains of two almost rectangular buildings built against the outer wall, and an oval building which has been built in the interior. There are also two smaller cells in the interior which may be part of the dun. The tumbled remains of a wall surround the island.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 24 June 1965.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 148 illust. (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 59-60, No. 189 fig. 113 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.