Lewis, Airinis

On 29 May 1964 the clothed body of a man was discovered in a peat bank during cutting on Arnish Moor, south of Stornoway, approximately 84 yds (76-5 m) south of the Stornoway-Harris road and 98 yds (89 m) east of the Grimshader road near the junction of the two (NGR NB 386305). The body had been laid on its back, the head towards the NW, about 2 ft (0-6 m) below the surface. The remains were examined by members of the Ross and Sutherland Constabulary who, when they were satisfied that they were of historical rather than modern criminal interest. After consolidation the bones were submitted to Dr R G Inkster of Edinburgh University for examination. Despite the decalcified state of the skeleton he was able to report that the remains were those of a young man, 20 to 25 years of age, no more than 5 ft 4-5 in (1 -64 m) in height, who 'threw' a foot forward in walking. The back of the skull proved to have been damaged before burial, and when it was shown to Dr R S Fiddes of the University's Department of Forensic Medicine he was of the opinion 'that the appearances seen in the posterior part of the right parietal bone are consistent with, and indeed suggestive of, a localised depressed fracture such as would result from the impact of an object having a defined striking surface. The position of

this fracture would be consistent with a blow with a weapon wielded by a right-handed assailant attacking his victim from the rear.'2 In other words, the man had in all probability been murdered.

H Bennett 1975

Listed in R C Turner's (1995) Gazetteer of Bog Bodies in the British Isles (82/1).