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Raasay, Hallaig
Croft(S) (19th Century), Cultivation Remains (Post Medieval), Head Dyke (Post Medieval), Kiln Barn (19th Century)(Possible), Rig And Furrow (Post Medieval), Township (Post Medieval)
Site Name Raasay, Hallaig
Classification Croft(S) (19th Century), Cultivation Remains (Post Medieval), Head Dyke (Post Medieval), Kiln Barn (19th Century)(Possible), Rig And Furrow (Post Medieval), Township (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 11460
Site Number NG53NE 3
NGR NG 591 384
NGR Description Centred NG 591384
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11460
- Council Highland
- Parish Portree
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
The POW's road affords access from here to the small settlement of Fearns, from where a mossy track leads to the haunting 'grass-grown ruined homes' of Hallaig, cleared by Rainy in 1854. Sorley Maclean's haunting elegy to the ghosts of this now silent village is one of the most important Gaelic poems of the 20th century.
['They are still in Hallaig
MacLeans and MacLeods,
all who were there in the time of Mac Gille Chaluim
the dead have been seen alive'
('Hallaig' by Sorley Maclean - translation from the Gaelic)]
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2007. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NG53NE 3 centred 591 384
(NG 591 384) Hallaig: depopulated by 1875.
OS 6" map, Isle of Skye, 1st ed., (1877)
Hallaig: a depopulated township, situated on the E coast of Raasay below high cliffs, comprises about 44 ruined houses, some yards and small enclosures.
There are large areas of lazy-beds on the upper slopes to the W.
Hallaig was probably depopulated some time after 1846, in which year Mr Rainy of Edinburgh bought the island of Raasay, and evicted large numbers of people, some emigrating, others going to Rona. (Information from Miss Nicholson, 'Eilean Tigh', Raasay, and from Mr Macleod, shoemaker, Clachan, Raasay.)
Visited by OS (A S P) 15 June 1961
NG53NW 72 5901 3850
NG 5901 3850 Sites identified during an archaeological survey of the townships of Hallaig and An Leac and the surrounding area.
Shelter - Feature 8. Some 4m east of a high scarp a small shelter has been built against the slope.
House - Feature 9. An oval house, 12.20m x 3m internally, lies northeast-southwest on its long axis.
House and Byre - Feature 10. Lying 2m to the south of Feature 9 and parallel to it, an oval structure, 11m x 3.60m internally.
Byre - Feature 11. Lying northwest-southeast on its long axis, approximately 3m to the west of Feature 14, is a rectangular byre, bow-ended at the northeast end.
Foundations - Feature 12. Very low banks, 0.2m high at maximum, form a U-shaped structure open at the northeast end and measuring approximately 6m x 2.60m.
Foundations - Feature 13. A low oval of turf and stone walling lies in grass and moss, set east-west on its long axis.
House - Feature 14. Lying 7m to the south of Feature 13 a drystone structure, 7.60m x 3.20m, lies east-west on its long axis.
Byre - Feature 15. Lying 6m to the east of Feature 14 a ruinous structure, 8.80m x 3.80m internally, lies southeast - northwest on its long axis.
Structure - Feature 16. A low, grass-covered oval structure, lying east-west on its long axis, measures 6m x 3m.
House - Feature 17. The low footings of a long house lying east-west on its long axis measure 13.50m x 4.50m internally.
House - Feature 18. 2m southwest of Feature 17 the very low outline of an oval structure lies east-west on its long axis in grass and moss.
House and Byre - Feature 19. The faint outline of an oval structure lies northeast-southwest on its long axis and measures 13m x 4.80m internally.
House and Byre - Feature 20. Lying 2m northwest of Feature 19 and 5m south of Feature 10 is an oval structure set almost north-south on its long axis and measuring 11m x 3.60m internally.
Cairn - Feature 21. Under the crags there is one clearance cairn.
House - Feature 22. An oval structure, lying east-west on its long axis adjacent to the south corner of Feature 19, measures 6.50m x 3.50m internally.
Possible Kiln Barn - Feature 23. Lying 2m east of Feature 22, two arcs of stone and turf banking may originally have formed one feature, 10m long externally, lying east-west on its long axis.
Byre - Feature 24. A small oval structure 3m south of Feature 23 lies north-south on its long axis.
Complex of Foundations - Feature 25. Lying 6m to the south of Feature 22 is a complex of low foundations which seems to represent several phases of building.
Foundations - Feature 26. The very low foundations of an oval structure, set east-west on its long axis, lie 9m southeast of Feature 17.
Structure - Feature 27. A small sub-rectangular structure, 6m x 3.40m, has low ruinous walls which, where they survive, are turf over stone.
House - Feature 28. Lying 4m to the west of Feature 27 and set north-south on its long axis are the vestigal remains of a sub-rectangular structure 12m x 3.80m.
House - Feature 29. A sub-rectangular house lies northeast-southwest on its long axis and measures 11.40m x 3.65m at the northeast end and 2.90m at the southwest end.
Byre - Feature 30. Lying 3m to the south of Feature 29 is a small sub-rectangular structure measuring 5m x 2.50m. The building lies northeast-southwest on its long axis with low walling, on average 0.80m thick.
House - Feature 31. Lying north-south on its long axis are the vestigal remains of a sub-rectangular structure, 13m x 3.50m overall.
Store - Feature 32. A crescent shaped structure is scarped into the slope and lined with drystone walling 1m high at maximum internally.
House - Feature 33. 1m to the east of Feature 32 a sub-rectangular drystone structure lies north-south on its long axis and measures 9.60m x 4m internally.
House - Feature 34. Lying 1.50m to the north of Feature 33 are the degraded remains of a house 14.40m x 6m.
House - Feature 35. Lying 2m to the south of Feature 27 a sub-rectangular structure lies east-west on its long axis and measures 7m x 3m internally.
Store - Feature 36. Lying 3.5m south of Feature 35 a small 3-sided structure is set northeast-southwest on its long axis and measures 4.80m x 2m internally.
House - Feature 37. Lying 1m east of Feature 33 is a very ruinous structure, 11m x 5.60m overall, which is now seen as a sub-rectangular scoop in reeds and grass.
Foundations - Feature 38. Lying on a fairly flat terrace almost 10m south of Feature 33 are the vestigial remains of what may have been a house, 9.60m x 3.60m internally.
House - Feature 39. Lying 12m southwest of Feature 33 and north-south on its long axis are the vestigial remains of a structure which has possibly measured 12m x 4m internally.
ACFA, 2004.
Field Visit (27 March 1991)
(previously NG53NE 41) NG 588 385: On the flat ground between Hallaig and Loch a' Chadha Chamaig are extensive remains of rig cultivation contained within well-defined dyked enclosures.
Visited by D Topen, 27 March 1991.
R Miket et al 1991; NMRS MS/530
Note (31 October 1996)
One roofed, one unroofed building, a large enclosure and a head-dyke are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Isle of Skye 1879, sheet xxxi). Forty-two unroofed buildings, which include two L-shaped buildings, one of which is also a long building, a large enclosure and a head-dyke are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1989).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 31 October 1996.
Field Visit (April 2004)
The survey of the townships of Hallaig and An Leac was carried out by ACFA in April 2004 as part of a continuing programme of recording the physical remains of human activity on the island of Raasay (DES 2003, 90-91).
Township of Hallaig
NG 5905 3845 (centre) The cleared township of Hallaig (NG53NE 3; cleared in 1854) lies on the E coast of Raasay. For most of the way it is reached by a well-constructed track built in the second half of the 19th century.
The township, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, on Raasay, consists of the ruins of some 80 structures. These include the remains of houses, byres and smaller structures, possibly stores. The remains vary from mere humps in the grass to buildings with walls still rising to their original height. The most outstanding feature is the large post-Clearance stone-built sheep fank, 130 x 140m, the stones of which come from the surrounding houses.
The township is surrounded by an extensive field system comprising field banks, remains of rig, and a number of shielings lying below and on top of the scarp below the summit of Dun Caan and in the valley to the W of Beinn na Leac.
Full report lodged with the NMRS.
Sponsors: Glasgow Archaeological Society, CBA Challenge Funding.
J Macdonald and J S Wood 2004
NG 5905 3863 - Possible Houses (43m OD). The very degraded, irregularly shaped remains of possibly 3 structures sit on top of a rocky knoll. Site identified during an archaeological survey of the townships of Hallaig and An Leac and the surrounding area.
ACFA, 2004.
NG 5915 3843 - Site identified during an archaeological survey of the townships of Hallaig and An Leac and the surrounding area.
Sheepfank - Feature 40. House - Feature 41. Possible Foundations - Feature 42. House - Feature 43. House & Stores - Feature 45. Structure - Feature 46. House - Feature 47 a & b. House - Feature 48. Structure - Feature 49. House - Feature 50. House - Feature 51. Part of Track - Feature 52. Hollow - Feature 53. Possible House - Feature 54. Field Bank - Feature 55. House - Feature 56. House - Feature 57. House and Enclosures - Feature 58. Scoop and Clearance - Feature 59. Cairns - Feature 60. Remains of Structure - Feature 61. Remains of House - Feature 62. Possible House - Feature 63. House - Feature 64. Clearance Cairn - Feature 65. Possible House - Feature 66. Cairns - Feature 67. Cairn - Feature 68. Cairn - Feature 69. Cairn - Feature 70. Cairn & Bank - Feature 71. Cairn - Feature 72.
NG 59270 38310 - Clearance Cairn - Feature 73.
ACFA, 2004.
