Monument record 74 - "AN CAISTEAL", VALTOS SCHOOL, LEWIS

NB03NE 9 0852 3641.

A dun is said to have stood on a slight mound overlooking Camus na Clibhe, some 250 yards NW of an below the school.
All trace of the building has disappeared, but a spring in the neighbourhood is known as 'Tobar a Chaisteal'.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914.

The site of 'An Caisteal' - the Castle - is a slight hummock, fairly near the find-spot of a Viking burial (NB03NE 1). McLeod notes the neighbouring name 'Traigh Bhargaigdh' - 'Beach of the Fort' (NB 080 365) No-one in the locality could remember any trace of structure on this site.
D J Macleod 1916.

Local tradition asserts that a turf-covered sand-dune at NB 0852 3641 is the site of this alleged dun. Several large stones are visible in rabbit burrows but there is no other trace of artificial structure.
The spring is a hollow to the S, which fills with water after rain. Visited by OS (R L) 27 June 1969.

no.7
The traditional location of a broch or dun (Dun Camus na Clibhe or An Chaisteal) lies under a recent sheep fank. There is no trace of any stone structure here and the site does not suggest that such an identification is likely. Intensive survey was carried out in this area s part of the 1992 survey. There is a possible, minor stone sturcutre in the area corresponding to the traditional site, but this is makred only by a surface irregularity with some signs of loose stone. The site is more likely to have been a smaller structure than an atlantic round house. It is possible that traditional knowledge of an atlantic roundhouse on Traigh Clibhe was mistakenly applied to this stone structure, once the real site had been forgotten.
Armit 1992, 41

The actual site of Dun Camus na Clibhe may be the roundhouse situated at NB 083 361 (NB03NE 27).
I Armit 1994

D J Macleod, 1915-16, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 182 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4899.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 30, No. 101 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Ian Armit, 1992, Archaeological Field Survey of the Bhaltos (Valtos) Peninsula, Lewis (Bibliographic reference). SWE41031.

I Armit, 1994, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, No.7, 77-8 (Bibliographic reference). SWE34817.

Burgess, Christopher & Church, Michael, 1997, Coastal Erosion Assessment, Lewis. A Report for Historic Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41000.