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Benbecula, 10 Uachdar
Cottage (19th Century) - (20th Century), Farmstead (19th Century) - (20th Century)
Site Name Benbecula, 10 Uachdar
Classification Cottage (19th Century) - (20th Century), Farmstead (19th Century) - (20th Century)
Canmore ID 238312
Site Number NF85NW 36
NGR NF 80096 55236
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/238312
- Council Western Isles
- Parish South Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
Often overlooked as a flat, featureless "confusion of land and water", this small island laced with lochans has made a significant contribution to the history of the Outer Hebrides. A stepping stone between the Presbyterian northern isles and the Roman Catholic southern ones, it is linked to Grimsay and North Uist by a causeway across the treacherous North Ford, 1960, and to South Uist by Ford Bridge, 1942 . When Clanranald sold Benbecula in 1838, it became part of the portfolio of Hebridean properties belonging to the discredited Col. John Gordon of Cluny. Because of the success and prolonged duration of the kelp industry here, Benbecula's housing and social conditions were relatively superior, with fewer landless cottars, no windowless dwellings and only 30 per cent sharing accommodation with livestock (as compared with 70 per cent in South Uist and Eriskay) by the turn of the 19th century.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
Field Visit (10 June 2015)
NF 80097 55241 Late 19th/early 20th century cottage, listed as having a ‘muran thatch roof secured with ropes and modern bricks as weights’. The roof is now thatched in reed and has what appears to be a straw ridge, which has been scobed with hazel spars. The roof has been entirely netted, including across the ridge. The thatch is in a good condition, however, there are some pieces of dislodged thatch from the ridge that have fallen down the roof within the netting. The grid reference recorded for this building in the listing description and by Canmore is incorrect and identifies an empty piece of land in another part of the island (grid reference NF 80099 52242). These databases should be updated accordingly with the correct location as recorded here.
Visited by Zoe Herbert (SPAB) 10 June 2015, survey no.271
