Scheduled Monument
Dun, 155m S of Taigh an GleannSM5331
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 09/03/1992
- Last Date Amended
- 12/04/2023
- Supplementary Information Updated
- 18/07/2024
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: crannog; dun
- Local Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Planning Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Parish
- South Uist
- NGR
- NF 74440 27235
- Coordinates
- 74440, 827235
Description
The monument comprises a dun, a type of fortified settlement, dating from the Iron Age (800 BC – AD 400) to Early Medieval Period (AD 400 –1000). It is visible as a round house, the artificial island on which it sits and a causeway connecting the island to the shore. The monument is located within Loch na Muilne, South Uist.
The round house is sub circular and measures 9m by 7m internally, within a wall up to 1.5m high with the artificial island approximately 16m north-south by 20m east-west. Pottery found on the loch bed within 7m of the island suggests the the island may have originated as a crannog during the Neolithic period (4100 BC – 2500 BC). The causeway runs east to west, and is a maximum of 40m long and 4m wide.
The scheduled area is irregular. It includes the island, causeway and an area of the surrounding loch bed, within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance as a well preserved example of a particularly small island fortification, which by comparison with other such sites, and through excavation, has the potential to contribute to our understanding, both of the construction and function of such sites, and of the contemporary economy of the area.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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