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Harris, Rubh' An Teampuill

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Bait Hole (Period Unassigned), Bait Hole(S) (Period Unknown)

Site Name Harris, Rubh' An Teampuill

Classification Bait Hole (Period Unassigned), Bait Hole(S) (Period Unknown)

Alternative Name(s) Northton

Canmore ID 10501

Site Number NF99SE 10

NGR NF 96960 91289

NGR Description NF c.9696 9129

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10501

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

Oblique aerial view of the remains of the chapel and possible broch at Toe Head, Rubh'an Teampuill, and the remains of the settlement and cultivation remains at Northton, Harris, taken from the NW.
Oblique aerial view of the remains of the chapel and possible broch at Toe Head, Rubh'an Teampuill, and the remains of the settlement and cultivation remains at Northton, Harris, taken from the NW.Harris, Rubh' An Teampuill, NF99SE 10, Ordnance Survey index card, RectoOblique aerial view of the remains of the chapel and possible broch at Toe Head, Rubh'an Teampuill, and the remains of the settlement and cultivation remains at Northton, Harris, taken from the NW.Bait holes, Northton, Harris.Bait hole, Northton, Harris.Bait holes, Northton, Harris.Digital photograph of panel in context without scale, from Scotland's Rock Art project, Rubh' An Teampuill, Harris, Western Isles Oblique aerial viewBait hole, Northton, Harris.Bait holes, Northton, Harris.

Administrative Areas

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

Archaeology Notes

NF99SE 10 c.9696 9129

Situated SSW of Chapel NF99SE 6, on rock surfaces just above high water mark, are 4 cupmarks. Three cups in a group are up to 13cm across and 3cm deep, and one cup 18m further W is 18cm across and 6.5m deep.

G R Curtis and M R Ponting 1988.

Further Details

Activities

Change Of Classification (13 October 2011)

The classification of this site has been changed from cup-marked rock to bait hole.

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, AGCH) 13 October 2011.

Further Details

Note (9 July 2018)

Scotland’s Rock Art Project

Date Fieldwork Started: 09/07/2018

Compiled by: ScRAP

Location Notes: This is a rocky headland below the ruined chapel with extensive outcropping rock. The circular depressions are at the high tide mark and are all almost certainly bait holes, or toll sollaidh, used for grinding whelks, cockles, limpets, mussels, and other shell-fish before throwing them into the sea to attract fish.

They may be some of the bait holes referred to by Alexander Carmichael, writing on Carmina Gadelica ii, 361: 'The Lady Amie (14th century), wife of John, Lord of the Isles, sent men round the islands to make hollows in the rocks in which the people might break shell-fish and prepare bait. Such pits are called 'toll solaidh,' bait holes. These mortars resemble cup cuttings, for which antiquarians have mistaken them.' This information may derive from a document about Teampall Chàirinis in North Uist, recorded from John Mackinnon in 1871.

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