32991: “AN CAISTEAL”, VALTOS SCHOOL, LEWIS

Summary:

DUN? (Undated)
ATLANTIC ROUND HOUSE? (Undated)
STRUCTURE (Undated)
Putative site of dun

Location:

NB 0852 3641

Full description:

NB03NE 9 0852 3641.

A dun is said to have stood on a slight mound overlooking Camus na Clibhe, some 250 yards NW of an below the school.
All trace of the building has disappeared, but a spring in the neighbourhood is known as ‘Tobar a Chaisteal’.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914.

The site of ‘An Caisteal’ – the Castle – is a slight hummock, fairly near the find-spot of a Viking burial (NB03NE 1). McLeod notes the neighbouring name ‘Traigh Bhargaigdh’ – ‘Beach of the Fort’ (NB 080 365) No-one in the locality could remember any trace of structure on this site.
D J Macleod 1916.

Local tradition asserts that a turf-covered sand-dune at NB 0852 3641 is the site of this alleged dun. Several large stones are visible in rabbit burrows but there is no other trace of artificial structure.
The spring is a hollow to the S, which fills with water after rain. Visited by OS (R L) 27 June 1969.

no.7
The traditional location of a broch or dun (Dun Camus na Clibhe or An Chaisteal) lies under a recent sheep fank. There is no trace of any stone structure here and the site does not suggest that such an identification is likely. Intensive survey was carried out in this area s part of the 1992 survey. There is a possible, minor stone structure in the area corresponding to the traditional site, but this is marked only by a surface irregularity with some signs of loose stone. The site is more likely to have been a smaller structure than an atlantic round house. It is possible that traditional knowledge of an atlantic roundhouse on Traigh Clibhe was mistakenly applied to this stone structure, once the real site had been forgotten.
Armit 1992, 41

The actual site of Dun Camus na Clibhe may be the roundhouse situated at NB 083 361 (NB03NE 27).
I Armit 1994

References:

1915-16. ‘An account of a find of ornaments of the Viking time from Valtos, Uig, in the Island of Lewis’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot. Part No 50. 182
RCAHMCS. 1928. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Ninth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, Publisher: HMSO The RCAHMS 9th Report and Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. 30, No. 101
Ian Armit. 1992. CFA, University of Edinburgh Archaeological Field Survey of the Bhaltos (Valtos) Peninsula, Lewis.
1994. ‘Archaeological field survey of the Bhaltos (Valtos) peninsula, Lewis’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot. Part No 124. No.7, 77-8
Burgess, Christopher & Church, Michael. 1997. 2 volumes, surveyed 1996, covering the 100m above the high tide line, and the intertidal zone. Coastal Erosion Assessment, Lewis. A Report for Historic Scotland.

Acknowledgement:

Information provided by Western Isles Council Sites & Monuments Record, January 2006.