Monument record 645 - UPPER LOCH BORNISH, SOUTH UIST

NF72NW 2 7414 2907.

(NF 7414 2907) Dun (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

A small island, about 30 yards from the western shore of Loch an Duin, near Bornish, South Uist, was occupied by a dun, which, in 1914, had been almost obliterated by the erection of two sheepfolds on part of its site. Only part of the northern arc remained. The dun was probably about 30ft in diameter internally, with the wall about 8ft thick. A dilapidated causeway connected the island to the western shore of the loch.
RCAHMS 1928.

There are no surveyable remains of the dun.
Visited by OS (R D) 18 May 1965.

NF 7417 2910 A test-pit and contour survey was carried out in July 1997 on a small islet in Upper Loch Bornish in order to ascertain the date and nature of the archaeological remains on the islet, marked as a dun on an early OS map. The work forms part of a survey in the township of Upper Bornish investigating changing settlement patterns over the last c 3000 years (DES 1996, 107-8).
Test-pit digging across the site revealed considerable difference in soil depth ranging from 0.19-1.01m. Of the 17 test-pits excavated on the islet itself, 11 produced deposits typical of household middens, comprising red/yellow sandy clay with large inclusions of charcoal or peat, the waste material from peat fires. Test-pits on the eastern side of the site produced a greater amount of pottery than those excavated on the western side. The coarse plain ware found is commonly dated to the late Early Iron Age (c300-100 BC). Pottery of this kind was found in construction deposits within the nearby broch of Dun Vulan where it is dated to the 2nd-1st centuries BC.
The contour survey identified gently sloping areas to the E and W of the centre of the site, where the ash deposits located by test-pitting are found. The centre of the site appears to have been the main focus of activity, with upstanding walls and large amounts of rubble. This central stony area is sub-rectangular and has been heavily disturbed by recent, probably 19th century, building of walls and enclosures. The survey did not reveal any conclusive evidence of earlier features beneath those immediately visible.
A trench on the N side of the islet produced evidence for a poorly constructed wal standing our or five courses hight, with only an inner wall facing surviving. The wall was revetted into a very homogenous brown loamy deposits, which may have been an early tuf wall. Finds from contexts within this trench include a small quantity of decorated Middle Iron Age pottery (c AD 100-300) similar in form to that found in the Dun Vulan midden. A second trench failed to show any evidence of surviving structures, and finds were limited to pottery and animal bone.
Marshall and Parker Pearson 1998, 105

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 109, No. 377 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 1998, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41173.