Dun Cuier or in Gaelic Dùn Chuithir is a structure variously described as a "broch" or "dun" located close to the settlements of Cuier/Cuithir and Allasdale/Allathasdal on the western side of the Isle of Barra. Located around Dùn Chuithir are various archaeological features in addition to the main broch structure, - the purpose of these other structures I am unsure of, but many look like field systems, one was a horse coralle, at least in later times, and there are other features too, a clearance, or other cairn, as well as areas of wallking and large stones, some of the large stones may have had significance or may have been positioned by people, but at this point it is difficult to say. Dùn Chuithir proves that this rocky hilltop was used by people in the Iron Age, but it would of course have also been significant to the Bronze Age and Neolithic peoples on Barra too, and we know that there was also Iron Age and Bronze Age activity at Allasdale/Allathasdal a short distance away. The Bronze Age people at Allasdale/Allathasdal are attested from sites in the dunes of Allasdale/Allathasdal, but at the time, sea levels would have been lower, and their landscape would have been an agricultural one, and one can easily imagine that this agricultural landscape could have extended into the upper parts of the valley of Allasdale/Allathasdal and how the site upon which sits Dùn Chuithir could have been important to them, although I am inclined to think that the Iron Age builders of Dùn Chuithir were not the exact same culture as that that existed at Allasdale/Allathasdal itself in the Bronze and Iron Ages. 

There were also Neolithic people on Barra of course, and Allasdale is not far from Dùn Bharpa, a Neolithic chambered tomb south and slightly east of Dùn Chuithir and located high in the mountains. In my own judgement, the Neolithic chambered tomb of Dùn Bharpa is most likely connected to the broch builders of Dùn Chuithir and/or perhaps to the Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples of lower Allasdale/Allathasdal in some way. It is interesting that the Neolithic chambered tomb of Dùn Bharpa is situated high in the mountains, and not far from another chambered cairn, also likely Neolithic, known as Balnacraig - a tomb which I may have come across accidentally once, when walking in the mountains of Barra, but I am not sure, it was back in 2011. This seems to suggest that some of the indigenous groups in Barra may have had a specific reason for building chambered tombs in the mountains, although it is also possible that coastal examples existed, which are now flooded by the sea. In the photo descriptions above the photos below, I describe and discuss some of the various archaeological features on the hill where Dùn Chuithir is situated, although I do not discuss Dùn Chuithir itself. I have discussed Dùn Chuithir itself in other publications however, including in my book titled: More on Britain's linguistic past, and prehistoric, runic, slate and copper mine related and other aspects primarily to Western Britain and connected topics, this pdf-only book is published via clwaideac-na-cuinne in the UK on the 17/09/2025, which can be bought from the following link on another of my websites: https://www.clwaideac-na-cuinne.co.uk/buy-pdf-books-published-only-via-this-uk-website-but-separate-from-this-uk-website-s-online-content . Below are the photo descriptions in italics and the photos:

Photo below: an embankment structure that looks more substantial than a typical wall on Barra. This is not linear but meanders its way towards the rocky crag upon which is situated Dùn Chuithir. This to me looks like it could be a prehistoric feature, although I am unsure about its precise purpose. 

Photo below another structure, possibly as part of a field system, close to where the photo above was taken. Some of the rocks of this wall-like structure are of quite significant size, and as can be seen, along the wall there is a kind of cairn-like structure, which could simply be a clearance cairn but which could also have had other significance.

Photo below, another structure roughtly south of Dùn Chuithir, like the features shown in the two photos above, which may be slightly southwest of Dùn Chuithir. The structure below has been described to me as a horse corral, although I do not know if this was its original purpose or not, or precisely how old it is. 

Photo below: