Lewis, Eye, Chicken Head

NB52NW 1 centred 5078 2924

(NB 507 292) Teampull (NR) (In Ruins)

OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1899).

In a small enclosure on the left bank of a rivulet near the cliff edge, are the foundations of a stone-and-mud building about 18ft x 15ft, oriented WNW and ESE. Other foundations nearby appear to be ruined shielings.

RCAHMS 1928, visited June 1914.

Fragments of hand-made decorated pottery from the Teampull near Chicken Head presented to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) by James S Richardson, accession number HR 757:30/3 (Wheelhouse type)

Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1924.

The decoration on a sherd from Eye, Lewis, in NMAS (HR 757) was made by impressions of a swivel-ring headed pin of a typed dated by Stevenson between the seventh and tenth centuries.

A Young 1955; R B K Stevenson 1955.

As described by RCAHMS whose measurements are external. The walls are well-built, some of the stone being roughly dressed, and are 3ft 9 ins. thick. The entrance is not evident. The building stands in a rectangular garth, as shown on OS 1/2500 map, bounded on the N by a rock outcrop. Its east and south walls are evident, but its west wall has been destroyed by the superimposition of five shieling-type structures, which have presumably used it as a quarry.

Visited by OS (A L F R) assistant archaeology officer 22 April 1964.

(Location indicated at NB 5078 2924). Scheduled as Chicken Head, chapel.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 17 March 1992.

NB 507 292 A plan of the chapel was drawn, and a survey of associated remains completed as part of an ongoing project. This drystone chapel, 5.7 x 4.8m externally, sits within a walled garth, probably originally rectangular. The W side of the enclosure seems to have been remodelled with the insertion of a NE-SW aligned two-chambered cellular building, and a number of other structures and field system. Damage to the site from marine erosion, sheep tracks and rabbits is being monitored.

A full report will be lodged with the NMRS and Western Isles SMR.

Sponsor: Lewis & Harris Archaeology Group.

C M Knott 2000.

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