Monument record 1283 - TIGH TALAMHANT, LOCH HACKLETT, NORTH UIST

NF97SW 3 9490 7122.

(NF 9390 7122) Erd House (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

A curiously situated earth-house bearing some resemblance to a cave, in the base of the cliff on the steep west bank of Loch Hacklett (E Beveridge 1911). It is described by Carmichael (information contained in letter from A Carmichael to F W L Thomas): "The narrow part goes backwards and upwards from the lake, and at the end there is a large opening The small opening below is just large enough to admit a man to pass." He also noted that the passages were covered, one roofstone weighing about 4 tons. Over Tigh Talamhant, as the earth-house was known, were several feet of moss, and on this a few yards towards the foot of the cliff, was an old wall 3-4ft high, the remains of an old building over the earth-house.
F W L Thomas 1890; E Beveridge 1911.

The remains of this earth-house, which is immediately above the water line of Loch Hacklett are generally as shown on the plan, although the old wall mentioned appears to be the inner face of a chamber, 1.7m high, the roof of which has caved in. There appear to be three entrances, two of them leading directly from the edge of the loch into the N end of the passage, and one at the extreme S end below the massive roof-stone mentioned above.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 28 June 1965.

F W L Thomas, 1866-8, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 171 plan (Bibliographic reference). SWE7733.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 115 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.