Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 587482
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/587482
NF77 5 EILEAN MALEIT
NF/772747
This probable above-ground aisled wheelhouse (pron. 'Ellen Malitch'), with other small buildings clustered round it in North Uist, is another of the sites explored by Beveridge on his estate on Vallay in the early years of the 20th century and the report on which is brief by modern standards [2]. Limited re-excavation was under-taken in 1995 [6].
Beveridge’s work
The site is on s small island (Eilean Maleit) about 10m from the shore and connected to it by a causeway [6, Illus. 2]. The main building seems to have been a near-circular, free-standing aisled wheelhouse with a rubble-cored stone wall about 2.14m (7 ft) thick at the entrance and less elsewhere. The plan suggests that there were some intra-mural spaces but the nature of these must be uncertain without further excavation. The internal diameter was about 6.71 - 8.24m (22-27 ft) and that of the central area (inside the pier ends) 3.36 - 3.66m (11-12 ft). Five free-standing piers remained with lengths of from 1.07 - 1.83m (3.5 - 6 ft) and the two on the north side were founded directly on a shelf of rock. The width of the 'aisle' varied from 31 - 71cm (12 - 28 in) and there had probably been eight or nine piers originally. No central hearth was located. The entrance passage, 4.27m (14 ft) long, was on the north-north-west. There seemed to be an external stone hut on the north side, backing against the main wall and apparently reached through a wall cavity. There were also a number of presumably secondary structures on the north side.
The 1995 excavation
A re-survey of the structural remains showed a reasonably good correspond-ence with Beveridge’s plan, with the except that the enclosed area was markedly D-shaped rather than circular. Also the entrance appears to have been in the west-south-west rather than the north-west. Traces of a probable mural gallery about 1m wide can still be seen.
A trench inside the wheelhouse showed that it was a secondary construction, built inside the ruins of what is probably a broch, although few details about this primary building could be made out. No finds are recorded from the recent work.
Beveridge’s finds [2, pl. next p. 213: 6]. The pottery included many sherds, one apparently an Everted Rim vessel with neck-band decoration – that is, an applied cordon pressed into loops into the angle of the rim. Another sherd has a raised, running S-scroll and a third has an incised pattern of triangles and hatching over an applied zig-zag cordon; the last looks like a Balevullin vase. Also in the National Museums collection is a wall sherd with a zig-zag applied cordon with a pattern of incised lines above it, presumably from an elaborately decorated Balevullin vase; it is remarkably similar to vessels from the Broch of Ayre in Orkney (HY40 1), and of course from Foshigarry (NF77 6)
Fired clay: 1 spindle whorl made from a cut-down sherd [2, ibid.].
Stone: 1 schist disc 32mm (1.25 in) in diameter, 1 hammerstone, and 1 lump of pumice.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NF77SE 5: 2. Beveridge 2001, 212-13: 3. RCAHMS 1928, 68, no. 212: 4. Scott 1948 72-3: 5. Armit 1992, 58: 6. Armit 1998: 7. Crawford 2002.
E W MacKie 2007
