Monument record 777 - DUN TORCUSAY, BENBECULA

NF75SE 5 7618 5313.

(NF 7618 5313) Dun Torcusay, which has been robbed of stone to build houses 300 yards north-east at Nunton, is situated on an islet in Loch Torcusay, Benbecula. Only the foundations remain of an irregular oval building which is 40ft north-south and 32ft across internally. The ends of an entrance on the south overlap to face west. There is another entrance at the north-east, to the south of which is a possible chamber 17ft long north-south by 5 1/2ft wide.
RCAHMS 1928.

Dun Torcusay is a galleried dun. The entrance is 1.2m wide and is checked for a door. Immediately to the S of the entrance, is a large rectangular chamber; and further round the wall in the north and south are two other smaller chambers. The walls, which are constructed of roughly faced stones, are 1.1m high.
There is no trace of the overlapping entrance in the south mentioned by RCAHMS.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 18 May 1965.

The monument known as Dun Torcusay, galleried dun 290m ESE of Garry a Siar, Benbecula comprises of the lower wall-levels of a galleried dun, a drystone fortification of Iron Age date, standing on a knoll in marshy ground (until recent drainage an islet in Loch Trocusay). The dun is oval, externally 13m N to S by 11m E to W. Internally it is almost circular, 9m in diameter. The entrance is on the E. In the thickness of the wall are three chambers, on the SE, S and N. sides of the courtyard. The maximum surviving wall height is 1.1m along the E side, but elsewhere the wall is reduced to less than 1m. The area to be scheduled is the whole surface of the erstwhile islet, an oval 40m NE to SW by 25m to SE, to include the dun and the area ourside the dun within which other traces of settlement may survive.
Entry in the Schedule of Monuments, Historic Scotland 1991

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 101, No. 347 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.