Monument record 451 - DUN BHILASCLEITER, LEWIS

NB55NE 1 5602 5762.

(NB 562 576) Dun Bilascleiter (NAT)
OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

Dun Bhilascleiter (NR)
OS 6"map, (1965)

Dun Bhilascleittir (F W L Thomas 1890) or Dun Bhilascleitir (Name Book 1850 - changed to Dun Bilascleiter - after information from Col. J Farquharson and J Mathieson, OS) is a small steep prominent headland, enclosed by a wall 10ft thick and 72ft long (F W L Thomas 1890).
On the summit there is a small oblong ruin, with no part of the walls standing. The stones of which it had been built are large and 'tolerably regular'. (Name Book 1850).
Name Book 1850; F W L Thomas 1890.

Dun Bilascleiter, Promontory Fort, site: 'A modern house, Dun Tower, occupies the site of the rampart, the stones of which were utilised in building the house. There is said to have been a well-built entrance with a guard chamber in the thickness of the rampart on the N side of the gateway.'
RCAHMS 1928, visitd 1914.

There is now no trace of Dun Bhilascleiter, as it is known locally, at NB 5602 5762. The modern house which occupies the site is now derelict. Visited by OS (R L) 14 June 1969.

A single unroofed building is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Island of Lewis Ross-shire 1853, sheet 6) and on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 14 January 1996.

Thomas, F. W. L., 1890, Archaeol Scot, 370 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7756.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 11, No. 34 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

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

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 10, 9 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.