31576: LSFH 45.11 – DYKE

Summary:

FIELD BOUNDARY (Post Medieval to Crofting – 1540 AD to 1950 AD)
WALL (Post Medieval to Crofting – 1540 AD to 1950 AD)
DYKE (Post Medieval to Crofting – 1540 AD to 1950 AD)
Stone-faced turf wall

Location:

NB 28348 16477

Full description:

"Running from the head dyke of the crofts (26.1) in the north this dyke, constructed of turf with a stone face on its west side, follows a sinuous course in a south south-westerly direction down to the shore of Loch Seaforth Head, where it runs into this loch as a stone dyke for at least a further 10 metres. This dyke seems to mark a croft or cultivation boundary in the filed system located on the north shores of Loch Seaforth Head, which appears to date to the pre-crofting/crofting transition. This could date either to the settlements prior to the clearances of the 1830s or to the re-established crofting settlement of the later half of the 19th century." (Burgess 2004, 52-53)

References:

Chris Burgess, Northamptonshire Archaeology. 2004. Northamptonshire Archaeology Archaeological Survey and Evaluation of Eilean Chalium Chille and the Putative Site of the Seaforth Head Castle. Part No Loch Seaforth Head Gazeteer.

Acknowledgement:

Information provided by Western Isles Council Sites & Monuments Record, January 2006.