Lewis, Airigh Na H-aon Oidhche

Lewis, Uig NB 0197 2852 Uig’s Àirighe na h-Aon Oidhche site is marked on the early O.S. mapping as a locality and has two substantial bothain-àirighe structures. The bothain are built in a manner normally seen in farmstead construction, with twin dry-stone walls infilled with dried peat as an insulator and twin stone lintels present over the doorway. The story associated with this site concerns the fears of a girl who was frightened by strange overnight sounds – possibly from wind blowing through rocks in the nearby pass. This locality was a popular site for shieling huts – there are at least a dozen in the immediate area, most of which are of this same ‘overengineered’ format, many incorporating intra-mural niches and storage cupboards. Although the shielings huts are not together in a tight group, as often found on Uist shieling sites, the huts would be inter-visible, one to two or three others, allowing the township people to remain in close contact.

Simon Davies ̶ Uist Summer Wine / Uist Community Archaeology Group

What may be two roofed shieling-huts are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Island of Lewis 1854, sheet 29), but they are not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 18 August 1997