Archaeology Notes

Event ID 847017

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/847017

NL58SE 142 5654 8285

The late 19th-century school and schoolmaster's house is the only roofed building on Mingulay today. Originally constructed in 1881 (Buxton 1995), the school is now unroofed, but the schoolmaster's house is roofed with corrugated iron to make it habitable as a bothy. It is situated in a square stone-walled enclosure on the W of the road to the landing place at Aneir. The quarry-pit immediately to the W of the enclosure may be one of the sources of stone for its construction. The buildings form an L-shaped range, with the gutted schoolhouse aligned NNW and SSE on the E, and the schoolmaster's house attached at right angles on the WSW. The school measures 8m in length by 5m in breadth within mortared rubble walls 0.55m in thickness. It had opposed entrances towards the NNW end, providing access to the front and rear. It is lit by a large window on the SSE and two either side of a fireplace on the ENE. The schoolmaster's house is a three-bay structure and measures 7.5m by 4.3m overall with a central stair providing access to a small landing and two bedrooms, both of which have fireplaces. The kitchen range has been removed from the ENE compartment. The original timber panelling survives in the kitchen and in the bedrooms (MING03 481). A sheep-dip has been constructed in the return between the house and the school in the 20th century and an outhouse on the WSW of the enclosure housed the latrines. A broken saddle quern is stored inside the house.

MING03 481, 482

Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 2 July 2003