Dun an Sticir, Outer Hebrides, United Kingdom

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.

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Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.

Simon Gilmour (6 years ago)

Dean Eades (7 years ago)

Ed Williamson (7 years ago)
This is amazing, what a piece of ancient history, and you can just go and walk on it, pretending you are a man from ancient times

Jason Graves (8 years ago)
Stunning they think it could be as old as 5'500 years old amazing how they used to live we don't know we're born when you look back and see what they had to put up with a lot worse than we do now

Debra Richman (8 years ago)
So very interesting! Good sign to explain what it was.

Dun an Sticir

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Church of St Donatus