Meall Meadhonach, Loch Eriboll

NC46 2 LOCH ERIBOLL ('Tigh nan Fiarnain', ‘Meall Meadhonach’)

NC/4049 6102

This apparent wheelhouse – the Gaelic name of which means 'House of the Fingalians' or 'Fenians' – lies in Durness parish, about 1.5 miles west of Loch Eriboll on high moorland with much bare rock in evidence; the site itself is on the slope of a small hillock and nearly 1000ft above sea level (visited in 1963). It was described in 1925 [2] but no photo-graphs were included so one cannot tell whether the building was cleared out at that time. It is not mentioned by the Royal Commission.

The structure was described as an “earth-house” [2] but at that time the term was used for the wheelhouse type of roundhouse as well as the true underground souterrains. This is a round drystone house sitting in the surface and, though small, it resembles the wheelhouses of Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. Alternatively it might be a compact, round version of the 'galleried dwellings', with rows of internal orthostatic pillars, found in Caithness – for example at the Wag of Forse (ND23 14) and Yarrows (ND34 17).

The main building is approximately circular but with one straight section on the east side. The entrance passage faces north-east but contains no door-frame and the interior contains an oval setting of six upright orthostats about 1.22m (4ft) high with a seventh projecting from the straight section of the wall on the east. Just before 1925 it was stated that "slabs measuring 5ft in length radiate from these to the circumference. The space between these lintels also appears to have been covered with large slabs…" (author’s emphasis) [2, 222].

However the contrast between this completely lintelled area and both adjacent 'chambers', which have nothing resting on their pillars, suggests that some reconstruction has taken place. indeed the whole 'roof' may be modern. Mathieson says that, while the north side of the main building was well preserved, the south side was “level with the ground." Now, the wall is standing fairly high all the way round, rubble having been added to it. Moreover in 1925 –

"The inner part of the building is so tumbled that it is impossible, without excavation, to say what was the original formation." [2, 221]

In 1963 there was very little rubble inside or around the structure. Extensive clearance and crude reconstruction have evidently taken place during the 38 years separating the visits of Mathieson and the author. Thus, even leaving aside the extremely small size, the architectural resemblance to Hebridean wheel-houses – seen in the lintels stretching from orthostats to surrounding wall – must be ignored as almost certainly a modern re-building. A link with the 'galleried dwellings' of Caithness seems most probable, although the siting of the building in such barren terrain is puzzling.

There is an external annexe on the southern and western sides of the round building, 8.5m long and 3m wide, the wall being defined by erect slabs bedded in the peat [1]. This wall does not survive above these foundations and no doorway in it has been located. The peat in the interior has been scooped out.

Dimensions [2]: the maximum internal diameter is c. 5.2m (17ft) and the wall is from 60-105cm (2ft-4ft 6in) thick.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 46 SW 1: 2. Mathieson 1925.

E W MacKie 2007