Monument record 1439 - DUN A' CHAOLAIS, VATERSAY

NL69NW 3 6285 9707.

(NL 62859707) Dun A'Chaolais (NR).
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Dun a' Chaolais, a broch, built on a rocky knoll. Its outer face, almost entirely broken down, is still 3' high to S.W. Inside better preserved, and on N.W. 10' high with traces of scarcement. Internal diameter about 29'6". Probable entrance slightly S. of E., and, within walls,cells at both sides of this. Ground level gallery in W. half of building, where traces of upper gallery also survive. To the west of the broch an outer courtyard is enclosed by a stone wall (max. height 3', and some 30' from the main building) which curves round to meet the wall of the broch on the north. There are numerous stone found- ations outside the dun (Sic), several of them evidently of late date.
RCAHMS 1928.

The remains of the broch are generally as described by RCAHMS. It has an external diameter of about 16.0m and an internal diameter of about 8.0m. The outer and inner wall faces are visible round most of the circumference, having a max. height of 1.1m, and 0.9m respectively. The entrance in the NE is about 1.5m wide with traces of a small chamber on either side. A gallery about 1.0m wide is traceable round most of the broch wall. Attached to the NW side of the broch is a small courtyard enclosed by a slight turf-covered stone wall 0.3m high. Masses of fallen stones lie within the broch and around its base.
Immediately to the south and SE are the footings of at least two buildings and four shielings evidently of a later date. The larger building is sub-oval and is formed by a turf-covered stone wall 1.5m wide and 0.6m high. The outlines of a similar building of this group lie in the attached courtyard.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (W D J) 22 May 1965.

VN150: Dun Caolis
The Dun stands on a rocky hill at about 30m OD. Although the exterior face of the wall can be seen to a height of only a little over a metre, it is clear from a scarcement seen on the south-west interior arc and from the gallery slabs around the south and west side that if the interior were excavated the wall would probably stand 3m or 4m hihg. The overall wall thickness varies from about 3.2 to 3.6m, a gallery around 0.9m wide separating the 0.9-1.3m wide inner and outer wall structures. There are suggestions of oval or circular cells within the wall around the south-east quadrant and the entrance was also probably here. The interior diameter is around 9m. Outside the structure, to the west, is a semi-circular platform area, partly supported by a rock formation and partly by built walling. This appears to be contemporary with the main structure, but a series of three subrectangular buildings clustered against the east and south sides of the main structure are clearly later and almost certainly built of stone robbed from its collapsed superstructure. Some of these buildings are quite substantial and they appear to be more significant than shieling huts or temporary shelters. Nine sherds of reddish-brown to dark-brown gritty pottery have been brought to the surface by rabbits. All are featureless, but they are similar to material from the other broch and wheelhouse sites in the southern isles. Iron Age with later mediaeval? buildings. The wall systems around this monument are complex.
Brannigan & Grattan 2000, 48

VN150 (NL629971) Dun Caolis, scheduled monument. The Dun stands on a rocky hill at about 30 m OD. Although the exterior face of the wall can be seen to a height of only a little over a metre, it is clear from a scarcement seen on the south-west interior arc and from the gallery slabs around the south and west sides that if the interior were excavated the wall would probably stand 3 m or 4 m high. The overall wall thickness varies from about 3.2 to 3.6 m, a gallery around 0.9 m wide separating the 0.9 - 1.3 m wide inner and outer wall structures. There are suggestions of oval or circular cells within the wall around the south-east quadrant and the entrance was also probably here. The interior diameter is around 9 m. Outside the structure, to the west, is a semicircular platform area, partly supported by a rock formation and partly by built walling. This appears to be contemporary with the main structure, but a series of three subrectangular buildings clustered against the east and south sides of the main structure are clearly later and almost certainly built of stone robbed from its collapsed superstructrure. Some of these buildings are quite substantial and they appear to be more significant than sheiling huts or temporary shelters. Nine sherds of reddish-brown to dark-brown gritty pottery have been brought to the surface by rabbits. All are featureless but they are similar to material from the other broch and wheelhouse sites in the southern isles. Iron Age with later mediaeval? buildings (Fig 10.5). The wall systems around this monument are complex.
Brannigan and Foster 2000, 48

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 129-30, No. 442 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

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

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