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

Canmore Mapping
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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

RCAHMS (1928) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Ninth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, Edinburgh
Page(s): 18-19, No. 63 plan fig. 53 Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.INV(9)

Watson, W J (1926) The history of the Celtic place-names of Scotland: being the Rhind lectures on archaeology (expanded) delivered in 1916, Edinburgh
Page(s): 263 Held at RCAHMS C.4.2.WAT