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Latitude: 57.4526 / 57°27'9"N
Longitude: -7.4011 / 7°24'3"W
OS Eastings: 76180
OS Northings: 853142
OS Grid: NF761531
Mapcode National: GBR 8930.YMX
Mapcode Global: WGV2R.8YX4
Entry Name: Dun Torcusay,dun 290m ESE of Garry-a-siar, Benbecula
Scheduled Date: 22 August 1991
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM5119
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: dun
Location: South Uist
County: Na h-Eileanan Siar
Electoral Ward: Beinn na Foghla agus Uibhist a Tuath
Traditional County: Inverness-shire
This monument consists 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 Torcusay).
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 NW to SE, to include the dun and the area outside the dun within which other traces of settlement may survive.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
This monument is of national importance because of the evidence it contains, accessible to excavation, for settlement and defensive architecture during the Iron Age. This importance is enhanced by the waterlogged conditions of the site, which will have helped preserve organic archaeological remains.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NF 75 SE 5.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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