Watching Brief

Date April 2014 - July 2014

Event ID 1014862

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1014862

NF 1014 9936 (Blackhouse F) and NF 10128 99361 (Blackhouse G) Two watching briefs were undertaken, April – July 2014, at Village Bay. The first one was undertaken during the removal of post-1957 rubble from the interior of Blackhouse F, as part of ongoing conservation work by volunteer work parties. The removal of this deposit revealed an extremely heterogeneous context of building and household debris including glass, metal, ceramics, coal, and building materials, interpreted as post-occupational dumping or middening. An early 20th-century date for this use, suggested by archival photographs and documentary evidence, was confirmed by the artefacts recovered. The deposit was left in situ and the interior of the blackhouse was returfed. This excavation exemplifies a not uncommon biography of such structures in Village Bay, which have often

seen several phases of repair and changes of use throughout their lifetime.

The other watching brief in the 2014 season was undertaken during a large conservation repair to the S wall and gable of Blackhouse G, which revealed a number of internal infill contexts reflecting previous repairs to the blackhouse from the 19th to the late 20th century. The lowermost layer of soil infill exposed probably dated from the construction of the structure sometime in the 1830s. Although this early context was relatively sterile of finds, the discovery of a graphite stylus is evidence of early education on the island which predates the surviving late Victorian schoolhouse by at least 60 years.

Archive: RCAHMS and Museum nan Eilean. Report: ADS

Funder: The National Trust for Scotland with support from Historic Scotland

Kevin Grant – The National Trust for Scotland

(Source: DES)