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South Uist, Eliogar

Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)(Possible), Souterrain (Prehistoric)

Site Name South Uist, Eliogar

Classification Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)(Possible), Souterrain (Prehistoric)

Alternative Name(s) Eliogar, Tigh Nan Leacach, Bealach A'chaolais, Stulaval

Canmore ID 10137

Site Number NF82SW 1

NGR NF 8129 2277

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10137

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Western Isles
  • Parish South Uist
  • Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
  • Former District Western Isles
  • Former County Inverness-shire

Archaeology Notes

NF82SW 1 8129 2277.

(NF 8129 2277) Erd House (NR)

OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

An earth house, in a good state of preservation in 1914, is situated in a stony mound about 300 yards north-north-east of Loch Nan Arm.

Three circular stone chambers are on the south-western slope of the mound. They are about 8ft in diameter and the domical roofs are collapsed. From the chamber highest in the mound, an underground passage can be traced for 33ft (the first 10ft is blocked) until it enters a sub-oval beehive-shaped chamber 6ft by 5ft. The general direction of the passage is north north east.

(The Commission calls the site ' Tigh nan Leacach', House of the Stony Slope) but give no authority for the name.

RCAHMS 1928.

The earth house is traditionally associated with the Rising of 1745,

J Wedderspoon 1915.

This earth house is generally as described by RCAHMS. The sub-oval chamber would appear to measure 6.0m x 4.0m although access cannot be gained to it. The two lower stone"chambers"on the SW slope of the mound appear to be later shielings; there are another three similar structures a few metres to the north.

Surveyed at 1:10,560.

Visited by OS (W D J) 9 May 1965.

Activities

Field Visit (21 August 1914)

Earth-house, Tigh nan Leacach, Bealacha' Chaolais, Stulaval.

In a stony mound overgrown with ferns at the base of the steep western slope of Eligar, on the eastern side of Bealach a' Chaolais, the pass between Stulaval and Eligar, about 300 yards north-north-east of Loch nan Arm, a small, secluded loch surrounded by hills, some 2 ¼ miles north-north-east of Lochboisdale, is an earth-house in a good state of preservation.

On the south-western slope of the mound are three dilapidated, circular stone chambers, the domical roofs of which have been destroyed. They are placed triangular-wise, the east and west chambers lying about 7 feet distant from the one placed highest in the mound, and they measure about 8 feet in diameter. In the north-eastern arc of the wall of the central chamber, which still shows a height of about 3 feet 6 inches, is an entrance to an underground passage blocked with fallen stones for a distance of about 10 feet. From this point, where there is an opening in the roof owing to the removal of one or two lintels, the passage is continued in an S-shaped or double curve, first to the left and then to the right for a distance of 23 feet, where it enters a sub-oval beehive-shaped chamber 6 feet in length by 5 feet in breadth. From the floor to the highest point in the domical roof it measures 5 feet 8 inches. The entrance passage has a total length of about 33 feet and its general trend is in a north-north-easterly direction. Its walls are built of good drystone masonry, and the lintel stones are well placed, the general width being 2 feet 6 inches and height about 2 feet 4 inches. Some 5 feet from the inner chamber there is a distinct rise in the floor, a greater rise taking place in the lintelling of the roof. At 2 feet 5 inches from the chamber the passage increases to about 3 feet in height, and where it terminates it is 3 feet 5 inches high. The inward corbelling of the roof of the chamber is very irregular, and daylight is seen through several interstices between the stones. Situated among the talus at the foot of a craggy slope the earth-house is usually very wet.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 21 August 1914.

OS map: South Uist lvi.

Field Visit (28 June 2012)

This complex site, comprising the remains of a souterrain and seven huts, is situated on the rocky and heather-grown NW slopes of Eliogar.

The entrance to the souterrain is marked by a circular hut that measures 4m in diameter, over a drystone wall 0.9m in thickness and 0.9m in height (the ‘central chamber’ noted by Callander in 1914). The entrance of the souterrain leads from the NE of this hut, although the relationship between the two is unclear . The passage extends for at least 7m and measures 0.7m in width and 0.5m in height at the entrance, but the terminal chamber recorded in 1914 could not be identified, the structure presumably having suffered further collapse.

Of the shieling huts, the best preserved lies 6m N of the first hut. It measures 2m square over drystone walls 0.8m in thickness and up to 1m in height, and there are two small additional cells or niches at the N and S.

An ‘Erd house’ is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire (Hebrides) Sheet LVI 1880). The contemporary OS Name Book (No. 13, 107) records the authorities as AA Carmichael and Captain Thomas, Royal Navy, both active figures in archaeological research in the later 19th century.

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH, GFG, KG) 28 June 2012.

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