Monument record 1422 - DUN BRISTE, BERNERAY

NL58SW 3 5485 8057.

(NL 54858057) Dun Briste (NR).
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 1st ed., (1880)

Promontory Fort, Dun Briste: A small promontory running westward into the Atlantic, with precipitous flanks, is defended by a stone wall, built across the landward end, which "measures about 75 feet in length, and varies from 5 to 10 feet in width. The remains consist of two rows of stone slabs set on edge on the outer and inner faces, the interior apparently having been filled in with stone and earth. The entrance is not distinguishable. Abutting on the inside of the wall are several hut circles of stone, of which the best preserved lies behind the southern end of the wall and measures about 12 feet in diameter internally" RCAHMS 1928, visited 10 June 1915

Dun Briste is as described by the RCAHMS. The 4 small sub circular structures, composed of grass-covered stones, 0.5m max. height, apparently associated with the fort, against the inner wall face, are almost certainly not hut circles.
Surveyed at 1/10, 560.
Visited by OS (N K B) 21 May 1965.

BY16: The wall, an impressive monument, is badly damaged and eroding, mostly as a result of sheep/rabbit action and weathering. There are no visible traces of structures on the headland itself.
P Foster 1992a; NMRS MS/595/7.

BY16. Fort Dun Briste (Iron Age). Cliff-top promontory. BY16 is labelled on the 1880 6 in. OS maps as Dun Briste and on the 1989 1:10 000 map as Dun Bristle. The monument consists of a stone wall built across the neck of a small promontory. The wall is approximately 23m long, constructed as a double row of stone slabs set upright, some measuring 0.9m long by 1.5m high. At the southern end the two wall lines are spaced 3.3m apart and at the northern end 1.6m apart, the space between shows some evidence of being filled with small stones and presumably earth, but the earth has all been washed out and few of the stones are left. There is no apparent entrance and the interior is devoid of any associated structures; although four small shelters are built against the inside of the wall they are almost certainly of early modern date.
Branigan & Foster 2000, 132

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 134, No. 453 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

P Foster, 1992a, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 88 (Bibliographic reference). SWE25420.

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