Monument record 1210 - TEAMPULL MHOIRE, PABBAY

NF88NE 1 8893 8697.

(NF 8893 8697) Teampull Mhoire (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Teampull Mhoire - 'The Big Church' - is said to have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and stands close to an older church - Teampull Beag (NF88NE 2). The church is now in ruins, the SE side having been demolished. It measures internally 15ft by 39ft 6ins. The walls stand 5ft above the heaped-up ground outside.
RCAHMS 1928; Name Book 1878.

Teampull Mhoire is as described by RCAHMS. The dedication to the Virgin Mary could not be ascertained.
Visited by OS (R D) 30 June 1965.

This is the larger and better preserved of the two chapels. As no trace of the east gable can now be seen, it is impossible to establish the layout with certainty.
The fabric of the north elevation is of flattish, coursed rubble, with larger blocks in the centre of the wall, possibly representing a repair or heightening to accommodate a gallery. The wall has been lime rendered, and render is visible close to the east end. There is an area of collapse about 2/3 along the present wall, being used by sheep as an entry. Externally there are two square pockets near the west end, which are probably putlog holes. Only the lower courses of the wall area upstanding to the east of the splayed window. The external surrounds of the window have fallen away. The window aperture may have been of similar narrow dimensions to those in the south and west walls. Two joist pockets are visible internally at the west end of the wall, with a third, damaged, to the east. Together with the 3 corresponding pockets in the south wall, they indicate the presents of a gallery.
The south elevation contains a similarly splayed window to that in the north elevation, but better preserved, towards the eastern end of the building. Externally it is 170mm wide, internally 850mm wide, and of similar height, with patches of render surviving on the east side. On both faces of the elevation, where the ground falls away towards the west gable, a course of stonework laid upright and at an angle is revealed. There are three large joist pockets towards the west end.
The west gable is missing quoins on the south-west corner, which have led to an outward lean of the south wall and partial collapse of the gable. Little evidence remains of the way the wallhead was finished, and it is impossible to determine how the building was roofed. There are two possible putlog holes in the external face of the gable. The single door is central, with a slit window above offset to the south. The door measures 1500mm high, 660mm wide, with a deep rebate behind the outer face. The check for the door lies 405mm behind the external face of the north jamb, and is 100mm deep. The sockets for a bar arevisible, on the south measuring 110mm x 120mm x 760mm. A timber lintel c. 200mm x 250mm extended 550mm to the north of the door and 250mm to the south. The window is very narrow, byt deeply rebated internally. A narrow scarement ledge 100mm wide is visible immediately below the window. Render covers parts of the inner face of the gable.
The ground surface within the chapel is much higher than outside to the north, and comparable to the level of the graveyard to the south. Gravemarkers extend to the foot of the walls in the interior. A crudely shaped cross, perhaps a grave marker, marks the highest internal point.
Ballin Smith, Hooper & Thomas 2005,15-23

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 30-1, No. 107 fig. 93 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 5, 138 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.

Beverley Ballin Smith, Janet Hooper & Jo Thomas, 2005, Pabbay, Harris, Data Structure Report (Unpublished document). SWE41130.