Flannan Isles, Eilean Mor, Lighthouse, Keeper's House

FLANNAN ISLES (off Lewis) also known as THE SEVEN HUNTERS Named after the 7th century Irish saint, this group of sea-pounded crags was regarded as a refuge of great sanctity, as well as being a rich source of seabirds for Lewismen, who also pastured their sheep here.

EILEAN MOR, the main isle, comprises 39 acres and has no sheltered landing place. David A Stevenson's Lighthouse, 1896-9 (automated 1971) towers atop 300 ft cliffs. It is a place haunted by the unsolved mystery of the three lighthouse keepers, who disappeared in December 1900. An uneaten meal lay on the table, a chair had been overturned, and two sets of oilskins were missing, but all three men had vanished and no trace of them has ever been found. Below the lighthouse, Teampall Beannachadh (blessing house) - the Chapel of St. Flannan - is a drystone-walled structure with a roughly remade vaulted slab roof, a door in its west end. On Maol nam Both, a headland beyond a now fragmentary retaining wall, the Clan Macphail bothies are said to be the remains of two monks' cells, part of a small early Celtic monastic settlement, although for centuries they have been used as shelters by fowlers

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

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