Monument record 1785 - DUNAN, LEWIS

NB32SW 4 3313 2120.

Dunan: An islet, isolated at high tide, surmounted by a ruinous rectangular building and approached by the remains of a causeway. Not a dun.
Visited by OS (AA) 9 July 1969.

NB 3313 2120. Islet crowned by remains of structures. The main area is occupied by remains of a rectangular building of internal dimensions 8m x 3.5m, divided into two equal-sized square rooms. Walls are of unmortared stone and earth construction, and one side of an obliquely-set doorway survives in the north corner of the building, adjacent to the remains of the causeway. The NW and SW corners of the building have been particularly badly eroded. Tot eh NW of the main building are further structure remains now lying below high water mark, represented by large squared stone blocks. Only the eastern sid eor the larger unit survives, with internal dimensions of at least 2.35m x 4.6m. Attached to its NW side is a smaller square structure with internal dimensions of c. 2.25m, possibly with a doorway in the South wall.
Mr Mackenzie, the local crofter, associates this site tithe taigh saillidh (salting house), thoguh local oral tradition also says that a wonman lived on the dunan and that it was the residence of an greidhear (the farm Grieve). The fact that these structures are not mapped, not figuring even as ruins on the 1st ed. OS map (1848-52) suggest that they are of some antiquity. The situation of Dunan provides a commanding position over the seaways of Loch Erisort, commensurate with a middle-status to high-status dwelling of the late medieval or early post-medieval period.
North Lochs Historical Soc. Archaeological Group, 22.3.2003.

Site is as described above and in stable condition.
K.Murphy (Archaeologist CnES)30/03/2021

North Lochs Historical Society Archaeology Group, 2003, Field trip to Laxay Area, 22nd March 2003. (Unpublished document). SWE41144.