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South Uist, Howmore, Caibeal Dhiarmaid

Church (Medieval)

Site Name South Uist, Howmore, Caibeal Dhiarmaid

Classification Church (Medieval)

Canmore ID 9872

Site Number NF73NE 1.03

NGR NF 75834 36480

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9872

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Western Isles
  • Parish South Uist
  • Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
  • Former District Western Isles
  • Former County Inverness-shire

Recording Your Heritage Online

Howmore (An t'-Hogh Mor), 12 th/13 th century (if Norse origin, haugr = burial mound) Occupying a prehistoric site and possibly dating back to the 6th century (an Early Christian graveslab lies among the ruins), this fragmentary group of two medieval churches and two surviving chapels is one of the most important religious sites in the Outer Hebrides. It became an important seat of learning during the Lordship of the Isles and was the burial place of the Clanranald chiefs after the Reformation. By the end of the 17th century the buildings were probably ruinous. Several burial enclosures and the kirkyard wall, mid-late 19th century.

Standing among graves on rushy ground formerly surrounded by marshes, the beautifully weathered lumps of mortared rubble comprise: Teampall Mor/Mhoire (St. Mary), 13 th century, the former parish church, now reduced to a section of its east gable, pierced by two lancets and a pair of aumbries; Caibeal Dhiarmaid (Dermot's Chapel), a smaller church to its east with only a lancetted east gable still standing; Caibeal Dubhghaill (Dugall's Chapel), just outside the walled enclosure, a small, thick-walled cell with steep gables and deep splayed jambs; and Caibeal Chlann 'ic Ailein (Clanranald's chapel) to the north east of the site, believed to be a post-Reformation structure, c.1574, although two earlier phases (one pre-13 th century, possibly contemporary with the construction of Caibeals Dhiarmaid and Dubhghaill) have recently been identified. Within lies a fragment of stone found nearby, with 13 th-century dogtooth carving.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

Activities

Field Visit (31 July 1924)

Church and Chapels, Howmore.

At the village of Howmore (en.1), situated on the western side of the island about 12 miles north of Lochboisdale, are the remains of an interesting group of ecclesiastical buildings, comprising two churches, which were dedicated respectively to St Mary and to St Columba (2), and two isolated chapels; a third chapel (NF73NE 1.05), observable in 1855, had been removed before 1866 (3). The buildings run slightly north of east and are arranged in echelon. They are rubble built in lime mortar. The largest (O.S. Teampull Mor; NF73NE 1.1) is the most westerly and is represented only by the eastern gable and the foundations of the other walls. It has been 66 feet in total length by 26 ¾ feet in width; the side walls are 2 feet 8 inches and the gables 2 feet 10 inches in thickness. The east gable contains two narrow windows side by side about 6 inches in daylight, with lintelled heads slightly segmental in farm; the rere-arches are semicircular and roughly formed with small stones; the window breasts are open. On either side of the windows is a small aumbry 2 feet 2 inches in breadth, 1 foot 4 inches deep, and 1 foot 7 inches high. (Fig. 161.)

Of the other church (O.S. Caibeal Dhiarmaid; NF73NE 1.03), likewise only the east gable remains, some 30 yards east of Teampull Mor; it has a single central window similar to those in the other church. Internally on the north side of the window is a rough corbel, probably for the altar, and on the south side an aumbry 10 inches high, 11 ½ inches broad, and 1 foot 2 ½ inches deep. This church has been 18 ¾ feet broad; the side walls have been 2 feet and the gable is 3 ½ feet in thickness.

The larger chapel (Fig. 159.; NF73NE 1.04) lies south of Teampull Mor. It is an oblong structure measuring 17 feet 2 inches by 11 feet 8 inches over walls 2 feet 8 inches in thickness. The entrance, which is in the east gable.,. has inclined jambs and measures 3 feet 2 inches in height, 1 foot 4 ½ inches in width at the top and 2 feet at the bottom. Above the entrance is a window only 3 inches wide and 1 foot 1 ½ inches high; there is a similar window in each of the side walls.

The remaining chapel (O,S, Caibeal nan Sagairt; NF73NE 1.02), the most easterly structure, is oblong on plan and measures 14 feet 11 inches by 8 feet internally; the walls are 2 ½ feet thick. The entrance, 2 ¾ feet wide and built with jambs slightly inclined, is in the east gable. The gables are steeply pitched and are complete; but the side walls are ruinous. In the north wall towards the west end has apparently been a recess. Traces of a window remain in the south wall.

ARMORIAL PANEL, ETC.

Against the inner face of the west gable of this chapel lies an armorial panel (NF73NE 1.06) with triangular head. It bears in relief in the dexter base a lymphad with rudder, central mast and sail set; above this is a hand couped bearing a wheel-cross. In the sinister base is a castle and above it a lion rampant; in the centre and surmounting the whole is a bird on a thistle slip. Beside the panel is a fragment of stone bearing six close set dog-tooth ornaments. (Fig. 122.)

RCAHMS 1928, visited 31 July 1924

OS map: South Uist l.

(1) Howmore was a parsonage pertaining to the Abbot of Iona. - Collect. de Rebus Alban, p. 3.

(2) Martin.

(3) Muir's Ecclesiological Notes, pp. 50, 51.

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