Monument record 466 - DUN EORRADAIL

NB56SW 13 5426 6297.

(NB 5426 6297) Dun Eorodale (NAT)
OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

"Dun-coradil" - a natural fort.
M Martin 1934.

Name collected as 'Dun Eorradail', but changed to 'Dun Eorodale' on authority of Col J Farquharson, DG, and Mr J Mathieson, OS, 1895.
"A small but high island, which is isolated only at high water. There is the site of an old building on its summit, more like the site of a shealing than a castle."
No local information.
Name Book 1852

Dun Eorradail (in English, Eordale): "a small tidal island joined at low water to the main by an Eyrr or Ore, ie. beach, and which has apparently been fortified by a wall".
F W L Thomas 1890.

Dun Eorradail is a flat-topped stack, difficult of access, measuring about 150.0m by 100.0m, separated from the mainland by a ravine and isolated at high water.
It is occupied by ten small rectangular stone-built huts with rounded corners, now heavily turfed. There are slight traces of a wall along the NE side of the island but this does not seem to have been defensive, and was probably a turf wall reinforced with stones to keep animals off the cliff.
This site is similar to NB56NW 1 and is probably a medieval settlement. There is nothing to suggest monastic associations.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R L) 18 June 1969.

Two unroofed buildings are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Island of Lewis, Ross-shire 1853, sheet 3), but they are not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1992).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 23 June 1997.

The site and the coastline around it are actively eroding. On the site there is evidence of recent rock falls at the northern end, where the traditional access has been.
Structure A
Structure A is a roughly circular hollow, c. 5m in diameter, on the south-eastern edge of the island, just beyond the southern end of the perimeter wall (structure P)
Structure B
Structure B is a rectangular building, 2.5 x 4.5m internally, oriented nouth-south, built into the southern part of the perimeter wall (str. P). It has an enterance in its north eastern corner.
Structure C
Structure C is a small, U-shaped hollow, backed against structures D & E (see below). It opens to the south-west, and measures 3 x 6m internally.
Structure D
Structure D is a small, U-shaped hollow, backed against structures C & E (see above and below) It opens to the north-east and measures 3 x 4m internally.
Structure E
Structure E is a small, U-shaped hollow, backed against structures C & D (see above). It opens to the west, and measures 3 x 3m internally.
Structure F
Structure F is a small, U-shaped hollow, opening to the north, and measuring 3 x 3m internally.
Structure G
Structure G is a circular structure, with an enterance to the south-west. It is backed against structure H, and measures 4 x4m internally. Again the floor surface was lower than the surrounding land, giving an impression of being hollowed.
Structure H
Structure H is a sub-rectangular building oriented east-west, without a visible entrance. It adjoins structure G, and measures 5 x 2.5m internally.
Structure I
Structure I is a vesy smal, circular hollow without a visible enterance. It measures 2 x 2m internally.
Structure J
Structure J is the largest visible structure on the site. It is a sub-rectangular building, oriented east-west, and measures 4 x 9m internally, 7 x 11m externally. On the northern long wall, a small wall, probably secondary, curves south and west to form a shelter against the inside of the north wall.
Structure K
Structure K is a sub-rectangular building at right angles to the eastern end of structure J. It measures 3.5 x 6m internally. A gap between the north-eastern corner of structure J and the beginning of the east ern wall of structure K appears to have formed an enterance, facing east.
Structure L
Structure L is a faint, amorphous, C-shaped hollow, opening to the east. It measures c. 3m in diameter.
Structure M
Structure M is a rectangular building, measureing 5 x 3m internally, 6 x 4m externally, and built into the western perimeter wall (str. P). There appears to have been an enterance at the south-western corner of the building, but this appearance may have been caused by the erosion of this corner.
Structure N
Structure N is a very ephemeral, long, curved bank, forming a shallow C-shape opening to the east. It is c. 15m in diameter
Structure P
Structure P is an intermittentperimeter wall, following the edge of the island around the eastern and western sides, with gaps at the northern end, and the southern end, and at two places along the western edge. At the northern and southern ends of the eastern wall, the wall end appears to be real, rather than being caused by erosion. At the northern end of the western wall, this is also the case. Elsewhere on the western wall, erosion has clearly caused damage, and it may be that the openings in the western wall are losses to this erosion.
At the northern end of the eastern wall, a strongly marked incurve is found just above a rock outcrop overhanging a freshwater pool. The pool is fed by the drainage from a small boggy area at the centre of the site
Barrowman et al 2003 p 17 - 22

Martin Martin, 1695a, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695, 8 (see 2nd ed., 1716) (Bibliographic reference). SWE5082.

Thomas, F. W. L., 1890, Archaeol Scot, 369 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7756.

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 3A, 30 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.

C. Barrowman, I. McHardy, M. MacLeod, 2003, Severe Terrain Archaeological Campaign (STAC)Project 2.1. Seirbhis Arc-eolais nan Eilean Siar, Stornoway. (Bibliographic reference). SWE41052. (Bibliographic reference). SWE41052.