Site type CAIRN(S), CHAPEL, MONASTIC SETTLEMENT
Canmore ID 4026
Site Number NB03NW 1
NGR NB 03869 37910
Council WESTERN ISLES
Parish UIG
Former Region WESTERN ISLES ISLANDS AREA
Former District WESTERN ISLES
Former County ROSS AND CROMARTY

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Archaeological Notes

NB03NW 1 03869 37910

See also NB03NW 2, NB03NW 3 and NB 03NW 5.

(NB 0388 3790) The ruins of a small chapel lie on the promontory 'An Bheannachadh' (Gaelic: 'The Blessing' - a name commonly applied to places which a saint had blessed, or had his church. W J Watson 1926.) The promontory has always been considered a holy place. (Detail shown on OS 6"map but not named).
The 'Teampull', known as 'Tigh a Bheannaich', stands to an average height of about 4ft, with the fallen upper part of the wall filling up the interior to a considerably depth. It measures 18' 1" by 10' 8" internally within walls 2' 7" to 3' 6" thick, constructed of stone bonded with clay.
A spring showing slight evidence of building around it lies about 32' SW of the church.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7; W J Watson 1926; RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914.

Tigh a' Bheannaich, the remains of a chapel, as described and planned by the RCAHMS.
The spring is now filled in, but still shows a trickle of water.
Visited by OS (R L) 1 July 1969.

NB 0386 3791 Monastic settlement, Tigh a'Bheannaich. A fieldwalking and mapping exercise was executed around the chapel of Tigh a'Bheannaich (House of the Blessed) (NMRS NB03NW 1, NB03NW 2, NB03NW 3, NB03NW 5 ) located to the W of the township of Aird Uig. The stone-built chapel is enclosed on a broad promontory by a large wall that runs from the southern cliffs to an inland loch and from there to the northern sea cliffs. This wall survives as well-built drystone coursing up to 2m in height at its S end, but continues N of the loch as a mainly earth bank with small stones and turf.
Surrounding the chapel are 10-12 cellular structures with diameters ranging from 2-3m. Many of these structures are located amongst bare rock on W-facing sea cliffs and have suffered extensive erosion. To the N of the chapel are six cairns of varying sizes (2-4m in diameter). Two of these cairns are kerbed and may be prehistoric.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, University of Edinburgh, Dept of Archaeology.
C Burgess, M Church and S Gilmour 1998.

This chapel site was included in a research project to identify the chapel sites of Lewis and surrounding islands. The Lewis Coastal Chapel-sites survey recorded 37 such sites. A landscape survey was also carried out at this site and a well was located here too.
R Barrowman 2005.

Barrowman, R C (2005a) 'Lewis Coastal Chapel Sites, Western Isles (various parishes), survey', Discovery Excav Scot, vol.6
Page(s): 143

Burgess, Church and Gilmour, C, M and S (1998) 'Bereiro and Tigh a'Bheannaich (Uig parish), surveys', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 105

MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1896-7) 'The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century', 3v Edinburgh
Page(s): 80 plan fig. 43 Held at RCAHMS F.5.31.MAC