Dun an Sticir is an Iron Age broch situated approximately 9.5 kilometers north of Lochmaddy in a lake on North Uist. A building was erected on the site in the late-medieval period. Dun an Sticir was probably built in the Iron Age in the period between 100 BC and 100 AD, like most brochs. Limited excavations resulted in finds of pottery.
The broch was probably inhabited during the Viking period. In the Middle Ages the broch was converted into a rectangular hall, or small tower. The entrance was enlarged and a window was constructed. Outbuildings were added and there was a larger building on Eilean na Mi-Chomhairle. The causeway from the north side of the lake to Eilean na Mi-Chomhairle was widened to 3 meters, so that carts could get to the island.
The broch has a total diameter of 18 metres. The walls of the broch are 3.5 metres thick and in some places a little more than three metres high. The circular interior of the broch was in the Middle Ages transformed into a rectangular area 10 metres by 4.6 metres. The axis is northeast-southwest. The entrances are 1.1 metres wide, located in the northwest and southwest of the rectangular space. The wall at the southwestern entrance is 2.5 metres thick.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.