Rum, Dibidil

NM39SE 393 927

Two heavily robbed buildings are situated midway between Dibidil bothy and the old sheepfold to the NNW; both measure about 6.6m by 3.2m over wall-footings 1.3m thick. The buildings probably form at least a part of the pre-clearance settlement of Dibidil, although the maps of Langlands and Thomson depict that settlement on the N side of Dibidil River, where no remains are now visible.

RCAHMS 1983, visited May 1983

(G Langlands 1801; J Thomson 1824)

NM39SE 2 3930 9274

One unroofed and two roofed buildings are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Argyllshire, Islands of Rum, Sanday etc., 1879, sheet lxvii). One roofed building, which is annotated as Dibidil Bothy, and one unroofed building are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1975).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 6 December 1996

NM39SE 2 NM 39304 92744

This mid-19th century former shepherd’s house, in use as a bothy since 1970, is situated at the foot of Glen Dibidil, a deep cleft that divides Askival (812m) to the NE and Ainshval (781m) to the SW, debouching to the sea on the remote SE coast of Rùm. Immediately to the S of the bothy there are the footings of a second building (NM 39307 92729) and there is a rectangular enclosure just to the NE (NM 39317 92760). A large sheep fank is situated 60m NW of the bothy.

While these features all date to the 19th century there is evidence of an earlier period of occupation at Dibidil prior to the clearance of the island’s population in the 1820s and the introduction of sheep farming. Two small buildings were recorded between the bothy and the fank by RCAHMS in 1983, while patches of hand-dug lazy beds are visible on both sides of the river, the nearest about 50m ESE of the bothy. A shieling ground, perhaps used by the occupants of Dibidil before the clearances, is situated about 700m further up the glen (NM39SE 7).

Two roofed buildings, an enclosure and a fank are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Argyllshire (Rum), sheet lxvii, 1879-80) and the settlement was described as a ‘shepherd’s house’ at the time (OS Name Book, Argyllshire, No. 63, p.93).

On the night of the 1881 census 'Glendibdale' was occupied by John McPhail (45), his wife Janet (40), his sister Margaret (38) and the couples six children Flora (16), Ann (12), John (10), Duncan (9), Lauchlan (4) and Mary (1).

One roofed building, annotated ‘Dibidil (Bothy)’, one unroofed building and a sheepfold are depicted on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 digital map.

Information from HES Archaeological Survey (G F Geddes) 28 June 2022

(Allan 2017, 274-5)