Field Visit

Date July 2022

Event ID 1166985

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1166985

NF 75734 35878 Tobha Bheag is now a relatively deserted area with fewer than a handful of occupied houses, although the farmland is still actively farmed by traditional crofting.

Historically, it was an important township with around 200– 300 inhabitants, including the MacEachen family, the ancestors of ‘The French Macdonald’: the Duke of Tarentum, Marshal Jacques Etienne Joseph Alexandre Macdonald. The historical importance is further demonstrated by the quality of the built infrastructure to assist transport and communication within the township and with neighbours.

The main Baile area is confined by the Howmore River, Loch Grunabhat and the adjacent Tobha Mòr to the N. A small promontory on Loch Grunabhat has an unusual circular drystone feature and other stone structures, which might predate the early township’s occupation area.

Later (19th-century) extensive farmsteads are spaced along the Eastern ridge, leading away from the original Baile area towards the low hill, Cnoc Buidhe, the northern slopes of which are liberally peppered with at least 36 clearance cairns. Most of these are amorphous piles of stones, but several appear to be collapsed structures, possibly shelters or huts.

Many of the structures have been modelled in virtual 3D using photogrammetry and can be viewed at https://sketchfab.com/ Smilemaker/models.

The township’s territory stretched from Atlantic to Minch, and includes the major hill of Beinn Choradail, its associated eastern Glen and ‘Uamh a’ Phrionnsa’, the cave used by Bonnie Prince Charlie when on the run from the army following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden.

Simon Davies – Uist Community Archaeology Group/ACFA

(Source: DES Volume 23)