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South Uist, Usinish, Scalavat 1

Roundhouse (Iron Age), Souterrain (Iron Age)

Site Name South Uist, Usinish, Scalavat 1

Classification Roundhouse (Iron Age), Souterrain (Iron Age)

Alternative Name(s) Tigh Lair-skalavitch; Scalaved

Canmore ID 10152

Site Number NF83SW 3

NGR NF 8482 3398

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10152

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Western Isles
  • Parish South Uist
  • Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
  • Former District Western Isles
  • Former County Inverness-shire

Activities

Field Visit (16 June 1915)

Earth-house, Scalavat , Usinish.

The earth-house described by Captain Thomas about forty years ago, which at that time was in such a state of preservation as to exhibit many interesting features, is now only a shapeless heap of tumbled stones showing hardly as much building as to indicate the character of the structure. The earth-house had been built at Scalavat, on a ridge running down in an easterly direction from the base of Ben Scalavat, as the eastern shoulder of Hecla is named. It lies at an elevation of some 300 feet above sea-level , and appears as a heap of stones, on the summit of which is a small sheep enclosure or shieling. The only structure noticeable is the entrance passage on the north side of the mound. Some 3 feet of its length, half full of stones, with well built sides and lintelled roof, remain in position. At the mouth it is 1 foot 9 inches wide, but towards the interior the walls diverge slightly. It runs in a direction slightly to the west of south, and appears to rise gradually as it penetrates the mound of stones.

About 700 yards north of this site on a somewhat similar ridge is a heap of stones, measuring about 60 feet across and 10 feet in height [see NF83SW 15]. It possibly has been the site of a prehistoric building, but if so all traces of it have been obliterated during the construction of later buildings, shielings and enclosures, erected on the slopes.

RCAHMS 1928, visited by 16 June 1915

Desk Based Assessment (12 February 1965)

(NF 8482 3398) Erd House (NR)

OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

The earth house at Scalavat, Usinish, described by Thomas in 1867 was in 1915 a shapeless heap of tumbled stones with little to indicate the character of the structure.

Information from OS (MSG) 12 February 1965

Source: RCAHMS 1928; F W L Thomas 1870.

Field Visit (15 May 1965)

The outward appearance of the earth-house is as described by RCAHMS.

'b' and 'e' of Thomas's plan are discernible through openings in the ground, the latter the only surface indications of the earth house which might well be intact.

Surveyed at 1:10560.

Visited by OS (E G C) 15 May 1965.

Field Visit (23 April 2013)

This settlement, situated on the bracken- and heather-grown stony SE flank of Beinn Sgalabhat, comprises the remains of structures dating from the Iron Age to the 19th century. The remains form two distinct clusters. The majority of the structures in the SW group are described elsewhere (see NF83SW 18); all of the structures in the NE group are described together (NF83SW 21).

The earliest remains within the SW group, described here, are a round-house and a souterrain which are probably contemporary with one another. The roundhouse (NF 84833 33985) is overlain by a later structure on the NE and has been heavily robbed on the S, but it appears to measure about 8m in diameter within a wall 1.5m in thickness with fragments of inner wall-face visible on the N.

The souterrain (NF 84820 33980) is situated immediately below and WSW of the round-house and is now visible as a 14m long grass-grown mound running along the foot of a slope. It is most easily accessed at the NE end, where a void marks what was probably the original entrance ('a' on Thomas’ plan). On entering the passage, there is a small cell (b) on the NW side which measures 0.5 in width, 1.1m in height, and 1.3m in depth. The passage then descends a few meters towards the SW where there is a large oval chamber (c) that was flooded on the date of visit but which has a corbelled ceiling and a niche built into its NW side. The passage continues beyond this chamber and broadens and turns to the S. A side chamber (e), measuring 0.8m in width by 1.3m in depth, is visible on the W; access to the end of the souterrain (g and h) was not possible on the date of visit.

A description and drawings of the souterrain at ‘Skalavitch’ were first published in 1867 (Thomas 1867, 167-8, Fig.18), and it was subsequently depicted as a small cross and annotated ‘Erd House’, adjacent to two unroofed buildings, on the 1st edition of the OS 6 inch map (Inverness-shire (Hebrides) 1881, Sheet LI). When the 2nd edition of that map was published in 1903 the depiction was changed to a rectangular roofed building and the position of the annotation was moved slightly. Perhaps because of this discrepancy, the RCAHMS Investigator (JGC) was unable to find this structure in 1915, instead recording a second souterrain (NF83SW 21) that lies 75m to the NE.

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, IP, AM) 23 April 2013.

DGPS survey.

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