Harris, Scarp, Rubha Na Glaodhaich

SCARP (off North Harris) 'One compact mountain' a mile off Huisinish, Scarp was the site of the first ever mail-by-rocket experiment, carried out (unsuccessfully) by Gerhard Zucker in 1934 . Historically, the island belonged to the same ownership as Harris, from where dispossessed families arrived in the 1820s to swell the population of eight families. Sixteen crofts created in 1868 were later subdivided and the population reached a peak of 213 in 1881. It was down to 74 in 1951 and 20 years later the last remaining inhabitants left. A few cottages survive today as holiday homes. On the east side, overlooking the narrow hamlets, some of their blackhouses (later used as steadings) built back to back, the spaces between them filled with earth and stones. In the burial ground is An Teampall - the scant remains of a chapel built by Alasdair Crotach as a dependent of St. Clement's, Harris. School and schoolhouse within a large stone walled enclosure, Alexander Ross, 1879 (closed 1967). Mission house, and adjacent dwelling, c.1891, in use until 1971. Re-roofed for use as a bothy, 2006

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

NA91SE 5 centred on 9876 1365

What may be a crofting township comprising at least twenty-one roofed buildings, one of which is annotated as a School, three unroofed buildings, eighteen enclosures, a burial ground and a head-dyke is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Isle of Harris 1881, sheet v). Most of the roofed buildings are arranged in six terraces aligned roughly N-S. Together with a straight pecked line which may represent a fence dividing plots of land this might be taken as an indication that this township is in the process of becoming a crofting community.

Fourteen roofed buildings, one of which is annotated as a Mission House, four partially roofed buildings, fifteen unroofed buildings, eighteen enclosures, a burial ground, a sheep wash and a head-dyke are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 19 February 1997

An aerial photograph (CEU 1980) has recorded part of the possible crofting township, school and burial ground. There are 15 roofed buildings, one of which is annotated as a Mission House (NA91SE 9) on the current edition of the OS

1:10000 map (1973), at least 17 unroofed buildings, 21 enclosures, a burial ground, sheep wash, head-dyke and pier are also visible.

Information from RCAHMS (ALD) 9 June 2004