Monument record 10029 - VS36 South Vatersay

VS36 (NL643943) A circular earth and stone bank, 23 m diam., and preserved up to 1 m high. If there was an original break in the circuit it must have been in the south-east-south-west quadrant. This quadrant has the most stone in the bank construction and may have been rebuilt or strengthened at some time. Three blocks of stone lie across the central area but are probably not in situ since the area has also been lazy-bedded. The enclsoure has clearly been used for cultivation but it seems unlikely to have been constructed initially as a garden plot. There is no good reason to make such a plot circular, nor do we know of any parallels elsewhere in the southern isles. It is possible that it was first built as a cattle pen (there is good machair grazing to both the west and down by Eorisdale to the east) and that the manure-enriched area was then used for cultivation. There is also the possibility of a prehistoric enclosure but the good preservation of the bank suggest a more recent date.
Brannigan and Foster 2000, 51

Keith Branigan & Patrick Foster, 2000, From Barra to Berneray: Archaeological Survey and Excavation in the Southern Isles ... (Bibliographic reference). SWE41033.