31645: LSFH 25.6 Beinn Iobheir – BLACKHOUSE

Summary:

BLACK HOUSE (Medieval – 1266 AD to 1539 AD)
HOUSE (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
COW HOUSE (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
LONGHOUSE (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Blackhouse

Location:

NB 29144 16439

Full description:

"Situated on the southern slopes of Beinn Lobheir, immediately to the north of the Balallen to Eisgean road this blackhouse overlooks the northern shores of Loch Seaforth Head. Measuring 10 metres from north to south and 5 metres from west to east the remains survive as a substantial turf bank on the north and east side, and as an internal stone face on the west, north and east sides. The southern end of this house has been truncated by the construction of the modern road. The remains appear to have been robbed of much of their stone faces, presumably to provide building stone for the more recent houses located on the shore to the south-west (26). The location of this house, outwith the current extent of the crofting settlement, and the form of its remains suggest that it dates to the post-medieval, pre-crofting period." 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, 48-49 and 37-38)

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.