Skye, Laimhrig Na Moine (Pier Of The Peats)

This township is situated on the remote and rugged southern shore of Loch Eynort, surrounded by the remains of an extensive field-system. It is not depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire (Isle of Skye) 1881, Sheet XLIII), therefore if it was not already abandoned, it is likely to have been one of the settlements included among the clearances that affected Bracadale (and Kraiknish in particular) in the middle decades of the 19th century (Nicolson 1995, 259).

The township stands on the W bank of an un-named burn, sheltered below a low cliff on the SW and just 60m from the rocky shore. There is a cluster of seven buildings, four large, three small, each of which, where possible, has been orientated up-and-down the slope. All of the now ruinous walls have been constructed with inner and outer faces (using stone probably derived from the adjacent cliff-face) and an earthen core. Many of these walls now exhibit a pronounced internal and external batter, reflecting the fact that the heavy stone faces have collapsed inwards as the earth core has been washed out. All of the buildings have rounded external corners and the roofs, which would have been hipped structures of timber, turf and thatch, have been entirely removed, leaving no traces. Most of the entrances have been roughly blocked in recent times, and there are at least two lambing pens.

The largest building (B - NG 35637 23481) stands just 12m from the cliff-face and measures 10.6m from NW to SE by 3.3m transversely within walls up to 1.5m in thickness and standing to a height of 1.2m. It has opposed central entrances on the NE and SW and markedly round internal corners -- features it shares with a slightly smaller building (G - NG 34645 23465) on the same orientation and situated immediately to the SE. In both buildings the SW entrance has been blocked and a partition wall inserted. The smaller building stands on the SW side of a small enclosure. The two remaining larger buildings are situated some 30m from the cliff-face, close to the stream. Both measure about 11m in length over all, and there are the footings of an earlier structure in-between. The NW building (C - NG 35647 23496) has a well-preserved niche in its WNW side-wall, whilst the other (D - NG 35656 23488) has a blocked entrance in its NE gable. The three smaller buildings (A - NG 35625 23480, E - NG 35673 23498, and F - NG 35658 23476 ) stand on the W, SE and NE edges respectively of the township, the second mentioned standing on the NE bank of the stream and on the SE side of a small subsquare enclosure. This structure is also the largest of the three, measuring 4.4m from NW to SE by 2.6m transversely within walls up to 1.2m in thickness and 1.2m in height. An enclosure, measuring about 11m square over a stone wall, stands about 30m S of the buildings (NG 35663 23422). There is also a small hut 80m SW of the township at NG 3570 2341 formed by a stretch of wall, set against a boulder, 1m in thickness and 0.8m in height, enclosing a space 3.3m by 1.3m transversely.

The surrounding field-system comprises an extensive landscape of lazy beds (feannagan) and peat cuttings, often in close proximity. The area is called Laimhrig na Moine or ‘pier of the peats’ (OS Name Book (c1877) No.3, 50) which may indicate that other townships sourced their peat from this headland in the 19th century.

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG) 16 May 2013.

The township is situated within an area of ‘lazy bed’ cultivation and peat-cutting that extends over some 25 hectares. The lazy beds are confined to the flatter areas of ground beneath rockier knolls with shallow soils, while the peat cutting is found both in hollows with deeper peat and on the rocky knolls where turf has been removed. In some areas late phases of peat cutting encroach directly onto lazy beds, while a rectilinear enclosure of some 10 hectares, enclosing an area near the shore and around the township, appears to be late in the sequence.

Information from HES Survey and Recording (GFG) 29 September 2017.