Field Visit
Date 21 August 1914
Event ID 934716
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/934716
Earth-house, Tigh nan Leacach, Bealacha' Chaolais, Stulaval.
In a stony mound overgrown with ferns at the base of the steep western slope of Eligar, on the eastern side of Bealach a' Chaolais, the pass between Stulaval and Eligar, about 300 yards north-north-east of Loch nan Arm, a small, secluded loch surrounded by hills, some 2 ¼ miles north-north-east of Lochboisdale, is an earth-house in a good state of preservation.
On the south-western slope of the mound are three dilapidated, circular stone chambers, the domical roofs of which have been destroyed. They are placed triangular-wise, the east and west chambers lying about 7 feet distant from the one placed highest in the mound, and they measure about 8 feet in diameter. In the north-eastern arc of the wall of the central chamber, which still shows a height of about 3 feet 6 inches, is an entrance to an underground passage blocked with fallen stones for a distance of about 10 feet. From this point, where there is an opening in the roof owing to the removal of one or two lintels, the passage is continued in an S-shaped or double curve, first to the left and then to the right for a distance of 23 feet, where it enters a sub-oval beehive-shaped chamber 6 feet in length by 5 feet in breadth. From the floor to the highest point in the domical roof it measures 5 feet 8 inches. The entrance passage has a total length of about 33 feet and its general trend is in a north-north-easterly direction. Its walls are built of good drystone masonry, and the lintel stones are well placed, the general width being 2 feet 6 inches and height about 2 feet 4 inches. Some 5 feet from the inner chamber there is a distinct rise in the floor, a greater rise taking place in the lintelling of the roof. At 2 feet 5 inches from the chamber the passage increases to about 3 feet in height, and where it terminates it is 3 feet 5 inches high. The inward corbelling of the roof of the chamber is very irregular, and daylight is seen through several interstices between the stones. Situated among the talus at the foot of a craggy slope the earth-house is usually very wet.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 21 August 1914.
OS map: South Uist lvi.
