31624: LSFH 25.1 Beinn Lobheir – FIELD SYSTEM (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Summary:

FIELD SYSTEM (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Pre-crofting feannagan or lazybed field system

Location:

NB 28482 16556

Full description:

"Located on the southern slopes of Beinn Lobheir, immediately to the north of the Balallen to Eisgean road, and overlooking the shores of Loch Seaforth Head, this small field system consists of sinuous hand dug rigs or feannagan covering an area measuring 33 metres from west to east and 15 metres from north to south. Occupying a small area of shallow slope and flat ground above the road, these rigs run parallel to the slope rather than down, and find some shelter from a low knoll on their southern side." Part of: "The fragmentary remains of a blackhouse settlement can be seen along the line of the Balallen to Eisgean road where it turns to the east and runs parallel to the north shore of Loch Seaforth Head. Consisting of two blackhouses (25.2 and 25.4), a well (25.3) and cultivation features (25.1 and 25.5) the settlement is likely to date to the pre-crofting period as the focus of early crofting and later settlement is located to the south within the extents of the modern crofts immediately above the shore of the loch. The surrounding area was cleared a number of times from 1610 onwards (with the arrival of the MacKenzies) through to the early 1820s. When the site was visited for the 1st edition Ordnance Survey in the late 1840s no occupied settlement was recorded in the area. The preservation of these structures suggests that they probably relate to the last pre-crofting clearances in the area (1823?). The full extent of the settlement has been obscured by the construction of the modern road, and by stone robbing for the construction of the crofting phases structures located to the south on the loch shore." (Burgess 2004, 35 and 37-38)

References:

1981. ‘Loch Airigh na Ceardaich, Balallan (Lochs p) stone axe-heads’, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland.

Acknowledgement:

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