31647: LSFH 25.7 Beinn Iobheir – FIELD BOUNDARY

Summary:

FIELD BOUNDARY (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
WALL (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
DYKE (Post Medieval – 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Turf and stone wall

Location:

NB 29194 16467

Full description:

"Constructed of turf, and reinforced with stone on its east face, this dyke runs sinuously for 230 metres from north to south down the south facing slopes of Beinn Lobheir. Standing up to 0.6 metres above the current ground surface, it is truncated at its southern end where it is cut by the modern Balallen to Eisgean road. This dyke is likely to form part of the pre-crofting field system located on the northern shores of Loch Seaforth Head (25)." 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, 50 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.