St Kilda, Boreray

This bothy, which was latterly converted into a cleit, is situated about 80m due N of the main concentration of cleits on the island. The cleit measures 3.4m from NE to SW by 1.8m transversely overall, and 2.2m by 1m internally, but its collapsed walls rise no more than 1.1m above the foot of the SW end. At the NE end the inner face is apparently carried out through the line of the wall on the SE to form one side of the entrance, but this may be the original entrance of the underlying bothy and there are hints that this was blocked when the cleit was constructed, and a new entrance was provided in the NE end with a step down into the interior.

While the interior of the bothy is entirely obscured by the remains of the cleit, at the SW end the wall of the latter clearly rests on an earlier plinth about 1m broad and faced with an external kerb of boulders. These evidently belong to the wall of the bothy, which was roughly oval on plan, measuring about 5.7m from NE to SW by 3.5m transversely overall. A concentric scarp immediately outside the line of the kerb marks the inner lip of a turf-stripping scar, which is 4m broad and up to 0.5m deep. On the uphill side, the outer lip of the scar cuts obliquely across the remains of the bank marking the course of the head-dyke (NA10SE 40).

(Mary Harman Boreray 16)

Visited by RCAHMS (SPH, IP) 13 July 2010