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Lewis, Tigh A' Bheannaich
Cairn(S) (Period Unknown), Chapel (Medieval), Holy Well (Medieval)(Possible), Monastic Settlement (Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name Lewis, Tigh A' Bheannaich
Classification Cairn(S) (Period Unknown), Chapel (Medieval), Holy Well (Medieval)(Possible), Monastic Settlement (Medieval)(Possible)
Canmore ID 4026
Site Number NB03NW 1
NGR NB 03869 37910
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4026
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Uig
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NB03NW 1 03869 37910
See also NB03NW 2, NB03NW 3 and NB03NW 5.
(NB 0388 3790) The ruins of a small chapel lie on the promontory 'An Bheannachadh' (Gaelic: 'The Blessing' - a name commonly applied to places which a saint had blessed, or had his church. W J Watson 1926.) The promontory has always been considered a holy place. (Detail shown on OS 6"map but not named).
The 'Teampull', known as 'Tigh a Bheannaich', stands to an average height of about 4ft, with the fallen upper part of the wall filling up the interior to a considerably depth. It measures 18' 1" by 10' 8" internally within walls 2' 7" to 3' 6" thick, constructed of stone bonded with clay.
A spring showing slight evidence of building around it lies about 32' SW of the church.
Sources: D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7; W J Watson 1926; RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914.
Tigh a' Bheannaich, the remains of a chapel, as described and planned by the RCAHMS.
The spring is now filled in, but still shows a trickle of water.
Visited by OS (R L) 1 July 1969.
Field Visit (20 June 1914)
Teampull, Tigh a Bheannaich (Tigh a Mhanaich), Aird, Uig.
Rather more than 1 mile south-west of Gallan Head and ¾ mile west of Aird, Uig is a bare broad rocky promontory rising 150 feet above sea-level. Facing the full Atlantic blast, no wilder or more exposed site could be chosen for human habitation, and it is almost denuded of soil by the spray of the winter storms. The Loch a' Bheannaich, which lies 200 yards inland, becomes quite salt during the winter. The promontory is known as Am Beannachadh, and has always been considered a holy place.
About 200 feet east of the edge of the cliffs and 100 feet west of Loch a' Bheannaich, near the southern end of the smallest of the three lochs on the promontory, are the ruins of a small church built of stone and clay, the walls standing to an average height of about 4 feet, with the fallen upper part of the wall filling up the interior to a considerable depth. The church, which is an oblong on plan, stands east and west, and measures interiorly 18 feet 1 inch in length by 10 feet 8 inches in breadth, the wall being from 2 feet 7 inches to 3 feet 6 inches thick. The door, entirely broken down, is placed near the western end of the southern wall, and there are widely splayed windows apparently about 8 inches wide on the outside in the east gable and near the east end of the south wall. Some 6 inches beneath the latter and 1 foot 7 inches. from the east end of the church is a small recess 14 inches high, 9 inches .broad and 9 inches deep, while low down on the opposite side, 2 feet 3 inches from the east gable, is another recess 1 foot 2 inches high, 1 foot 5 inches broad and 1 foot deep.
Some 32 feet south-west of the church is a spring, showing slight evidences of building round it.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 20 June 1914.
OS map: Lewis xvi (unnoted).
Note (1998)
NB 0386 3791 Monastic settlement, Tigh a'Bheannaich. A fieldwalking and mapping exercise was executed around the chapel of Tigh a'Bheannaich (House of the Blessed) (NMRS NB03NW 1, 2, 3 and 5) located to the W of the township of Aird Uig. The stone-built chapel is enclosed on a broad promontory by a large wall that runs from the southern cliffs to an inland loch and from there to the northern sea cliffs. This wall survives as well-built drystone coursing up to 2m in height at its S end, but continues N of the loch as a mainly earth bank with small stones and turf.
Surrounding the chapel are 10-12 cellular structures with diameters ranging from 2-3m. Many of these structures are located amongst bare rock on W-facing sea cliffs and have suffered extensive erosion. To the N of the chapel are six cairns of varying sizes (2-4m in diameter). Two of these cairns are kerbed and may be prehistoric.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, University of Edinburgh, Dept of Archaeology.
C Burgess, M Church and S Gilmour 1998.
Note (2005)
This chapel site was included in a research project to identify the chapel sites of Lewis and surrounding islands. The Lewis Coastal Chapel-sites survey recorded 37 such sites.
R Barrowman 2005.
