Monument record 1446 - VATERSAY

NL69SW 1 6271 9456.

(NL 6271 9456) Dun (NR) (Site of)
OS 6'map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

'On the summit of a small hill, about 150 feet above sea-level, some 400 yards west of the township of Vatersay, is the site of a dun. All the stones have been cleared away with the exception of a few of the outer foundation stones. The building seems to have been circular with an external diameter of 41 feet. There are suggestions of an outer courtyard to the east'.
RCAHMS 1928.

The outer wall face of this dun is outlined by two small stretches of walling on the east side, a single facing stone on the north side and another single facing stone on the SW side giving the dun an oval shape measuring 12.7m N-S by 10.4m E-W.
The stretches of walling along the E side are 1.7m and 1.6m long respectively; the northern most shows one course of stone 0.2m high, the other, 2 courses, 0.6m high. Attached to the east side of the dun is a sub-oval courtyard, outlined by a few stones protruding from the turf, measuring about 10.0m E-W by about 12.0m N-S. A line of large stones immediately east of this enclosure suggests a possible defensive wall across the natural line of approach. The interior of the dun is turf-covered and free of stone.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (W D J) 22 May 1965.

Iron age sherds 'from a dun on Vatersay' [and another site] were donated to NMAS by Mrs Hill, Castlebay.[Dun a'Chaolais, a broch (NL69NW 3) is also on Vatersay.]
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1980.

VS1 (NL627945) Dun Vatersay, on a rocky hill over-looking both West Bay and East Bay, and dominating the land approach across the machair to southern Vatersay. The site has been very extensively robbed for stone but traces of the main oval circuit wall survive and indicate a structure 13 x 10.3 m overall, with an outer wall about 0.8 m wide. The largest stones used in this structure are over 1 m long. There is no visible evidence for an inner wall running parallel to the outer one. We concur with the RCAHMS (1928: 138) that there are suggestions of an enclosed yard to the east, which measures 10 m x 9 m. A few small sherds of reddish-brown gritty pottery have been seen in disturbed soil and match those from other broch/dun sites on Barra and Vatersay and from middens at Eoligarry and on South Uist. Two dozen similar sherds from the site are in the NMS collections. Iron Age 'dun'.
Brannigan and Foster 2000, 49-50

NL 627 945 Five stone tools were discovered at the foot of the dun at Beinn Ruilibreac, 570m NE of Vatersay.
On descending the dun to the NW, two rounded stones were noticed lying side by side, set into a worn path. They lay at the foot of a large rock outcrop on the W side of the dun. One is a flat beach pebble (igneous rock) measuring approximately 130 x 110 x 48mm, with slightly flattened ends formed through abrasion. One edge is also uniformly abraded. The face which lay upwards is polished and smooth - possibly due to wear from being exposed on the path, but this may also be a result of burnishing or rubbing.
The second stone is less uniform in morphology, but again has two distinctly abraded ends, and could be described more confidently as a stone hammer.
After further investigation of the undergrowth in the immediate vicinity, a small rock shelf or crack was revealed at the base of the rock outcrop. To the far left of this lay a further three stones. One is a large rounded pebble with a rounded top and flat base. This again has two distinct wear marks on either end, with a chipped area over the abrasion on one end, and can also be described as a stone hammer. A quartz pebble sat next to this stone, but no abrasion was evident on this, and it has therefore not been described as a utilised tool. The final stone was much smaller than the others, and slight abrasion is present along one edge and end.
Finally, on returning back along the path, a further stone was spotted in the vegetation no more than 2m from the findspot of the original two stones. This is very distintive in morphology, appearing like a stone axe face on, but with rounded ends and body. Again, abrasion is present across the wider end.
The finds were photographed in situ and removed. They are now in Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway.
Sponsor: HS
Barrowman 2002, 118

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 138, No. 472 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

PSAS, 1977-8, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 381 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12884.

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

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2002, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41091.