Lewis, Gress Lodge
Midden (Prehistoric), Souterrain (Prehistoric), Quern (Period Unknown), Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)
Site Name Lewis, Gress Lodge
Classification Midden (Prehistoric), Souterrain (Prehistoric), Quern (Period Unknown), Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Loidse Ghriais
Canmore ID 4338
Site Number NB44SE 4
NGR NB 4938 4185
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4338
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Stornoway
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NB44SE 4 4938 4185
(NB 4938 4185) Earth House (NR) (site of)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1974)
This souterrain (published as 'Cave' on OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., 1898) under the lawn in front of Gress Lodge, was revealed by a collapse of roof. The entrance was on the beach just above high water mark, 38 yards from the house. A slightly curved passage, 2ft wide, led to a circular chamber, 9ft in diameter, whose roof of flags was supported by a central pillar of unmortared masonry. Just before reaching the chamber the passage had a recess of 2 1/2ft on each side.
From this first chamber a narrow passage ran 40ft to 50ft NW towards Gress Lodge, to a second circular chamber. From this, a passage branched off to NE forming an angle of less than 90 with the entrance gallery and leading to a third circular chamber. The whole was filled with blown sand, but yielded shells, split animal bones, querns and (from the last chamber) a staghorn pick. It was covered with sand in 1914.
P Liddel 1875; D MacRitchie 1917; RCAHMS 1928.
When Dr Greig arrived in 1949 the site was marked by an area of sand and tufty grass. This has now been cleaned up and no remains of the souterrain are visible. Dr Greig has a photo of an etching made in 1874 and sent to him by the late Dr D Macdonald, showing an entrance in the cliff. The cliff is sandy and crumbling and the entrance cannot now be traced. Site confirmed on information from Dr Greig (J C R Greig, Gress Lodge).
Visited by OS (A L F R) assistent archaeology officer, 20 April 1964.
About thirty sherds of typical Iron Age 'wheelhouse' pottery, perhaps of the early centuries AD, were recovered from this site, presumably from the midden, by I Campbell, and were submitted to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) for identification in 1976. The midden, sectioned and clearly stratified, is under threat of destruction by the sea, which has also exposed what appears from the photographs to be the entrance to the earth-house. Information contained in letter from I Campbell, 25 Coll, Back, Lewis to J Close-Brooks (NMAS) 2 March 1976 and from J Close-Brooks to OS 9 March 1976.
Erosion of midden material in area of souterrain. Finds include antler, a bone tool and Iron Age pottery sherds.
M MacRae 1983.
Field Visit (24 June 1914)
Earth-house, Gress Lodge.
Under the lawn in front, that is east of Gress Lodge, is an earth-house which was discovered many years ago, but is now covered up with blown sand. The entrance to the house was only a few feet above high-water mark on the beach, about 38 yards from the front of the house. From information received from Mr Peter Liddle, Farmer, Gress, it is learned that there was a circular chamber near the entrance and a guard chamber on either side of the passage a few feet before this chamber was reached. A narrow passage ran some 40 to 50 feet in a north-westerly direction towards Gress Lodge, when another circular chamber was reached. From this a passage branched off towards the north-east, forming an angle of less than 90 degrees with the entrance gallery, and at the end of this branch there was another circular chamber. Mr Liddle got a pick of stag horn near the latter spot, having dug down at least 15 feet from the surface. Querns and bones were also found in the earth house.
In the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. X., p. 741, when apparently only the entrance chamber had been discovered, it is recorded that the earth-house is of circular form, 9 feet in diameter internally, with a stone pillar in the centre of the floor to support the roof. It was approached by a passage 2 feet wide, with a recess of 2 feet 6 inches on both sides just before it enters the chamber.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 24 June 1914.
OS map: Lewis xv (unnoted).
Soil Sampling (4 March 2003 - 12 March 2003)
AOC Archaeology were grant aided by Historic Scotland for a second successive season of fieldwork related to a partnership project to assist a PhD studentship investigating the Marine Reservoir Effect, as well as a further project which includes analyses of Plaggan Soils. A total of 25 potential sites were visited to ascertain their potential for sample retrieval relating to the two projects described above.
None of the ecofactual or artefactual material noted at any of the sites visited could be described as being in secure contexts. The material was either within what appeared to be deposits interpreted as topsoil, in unstratified spreads, which were eroding out of the overlying eroding windblown sands, or in the case of Galston within deposits which appeared to have slumped down from above. In light of this no samples were taken for the PhD studentship concerned with the Marine Resevoir Effect. Some soil micromorphological samples were, however, taken in the connection with the study into Plaggan soils. These samples will be reported on at a later date.
AOC Archaeology - Alan Duffy (2003)
Publication Account (2007)
NB44 1 GRESS LODGE
NB/4938 4185
This souterrain or earth-house in Stornoway, Lewis, is described briefly here because of the late Iron Age pottery it has revealed. The structure was first described by Peter Liddle of Gress [2] and forty years later he described the souterrain, then inaccessible under sand, to the Investigators of the Royal Commission [4]. Armit's account [6] does not mention the pottery in the Hunterian Museum [5], nor the circumstances of its discovery, in 1946, in the clearest context of the various finds made at the site.
Description
The structure consists of a long underground passage excavated into sand, probably with more than one branch. The walls are revetted with stone and the roof is composed of flat lintels. The passage evidently led to a circular pillared chamber about 9 ft (2.75m) in diameter which was entered by Peter Liddle in the early 1870s [2]. Gilbert Holmes again found the entrance to the passage in 1946, about 14-15 ft (4.27 - 4.58m) above high water mark and located a small circular chamber on the left a few feet in. The Gress Lodge souterrain seems to have been an extensive and complex structure.
The few sherds that the author was able to examine were only a small proportion of those found by Mr Holmes and which almost certainly came from midden material lying on top of the lintels roofing the passage. The sherds have been described individually [5, 200-01] and include several large pieces of Dun Cuier ware as well as at least two middle Iron Age sherds including a decorated Vaul ware vase and the base sherd of an Everted Rim jar.
Discussion
The Dun Cuier ware sherds were found beneath a considerable depth of sand on top of the lintels roofing the passage. This implies either that the passage was re-exposed in late middle Iron Age times (probably in the 6th century) or – more probably – that it was built then. The closest parallels with the building – particularly the circular chamber with a supporting stone pillar – seem to be with the souterrains of Orkney. "If so Gress may also exhibit another example of what seems to be a characteristic phenomenon in Atlantic Iron Age Scotland wherein an exotic drystone structure is adopted by an established local population." [5, 203].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NB 44 SE 4: 2. Liddle 1872: 3. MacRitchie 1916: 4. RCAHMS 1928, 17, no. 58: 5. MacKie 1966: 6. Armit 1992, 87.
E W MacKie 2007
