Archaeology Notes

Event ID 647322

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/647322

NA74NW 3 7231 4690

(NA 7231 4680) 'The Bothies of the Clan MacPhail' - Two drystone structures, 30' apart, the larger of which is similar in type to that on the "Pigmies' Isle" (NB56NW 4). The larger building has a total length of 27 1/4' and consists of a passage some 2' wide and high, which passes through an oval chamber 6' by 4 3/4' by 2 3/4' high at the W end, a central rectangular chamber 8' by 8 1/2', covered with a beehive roof 6' high, and containing an aumbry in the N wall, and expands at the E end as a lobby 4 1/2' by 3 1/4' by 2 3/4' high.

In the smaller building a short curved passage 3' broad and 3' high swings round on the N and opens in a chamber, with rounded ends, that measures 10 1/2' by 3 1/2' by 5 1/2' high, and is covered with a beehive roof. On the S side there is a passage 18" by 3'2" by 2'8" high, and where this opens off the main chamber a flagstone 4" thick and 18" square projects within the main chamber.

F L W Thomas 1870; RCAHMS 1928, visited 1928; M Stewart 1933

Two beehive-type shielings generally as described. A hearth c 0.5m square exists in the central chamber of the larger shieling 'A' and there are the probable remains of a third chamber to the right of the entrance. A wall of upright slabs commencing in front of the shielings runs SE to the edge of a geo to cut the promontory on which the site stands. Just outside this wall is a well. (See NA74NW 2).

The name 'Bothies of the Clan MacPhail' could not be confirmed.

Visited by OS (R D) 16 July 1971

Two unroofed shieling-huts, which are annotated as Ruins and attached to a length of wall, are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Island of Lewis 1854, sheet 47).

Two black dots annotated as Old Shielings and part of the wall are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1972).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH), 25 June 1997.