Monument record 2660 - GEIRISCLETT, NORTH UIST

NF77NE 35 centred on 767 752

NF 75 75 area A walk-over survey has been undertaken in an area of coastal land c2km long by 0.5km wide between Loch Olabhat and Airigh Mhic Ruairidh. Early OS map editions had indicated much abandoned settlement in this area, and a chambered tomb and likely prehistoric settlement site were previously known to be present on the Geirisclett peninsula. Details of all identified sites were recorded, and the locations of unmapped sites identified as accurately as possible by manual methods.
Evidence of abandoned settlement, land boundaries and cultivation were identified over much of the survey area. Approximately 100 individual structures of varying antiquity have been recorded. Many of the previously mapped structures may relate to a period of planned early 19th century settlement associated with the clearance of the nearby township at Foshigarry. However, evidence of a range of earlier settlement forms were also recorded, including rectilinear turf-built structures and enclosures around Airigh Mhic Ruairidh, sub-rectangular structures on knolls with closest parallels to the nearby excavated site at Drium nan Dearcag (see Armit 1989, 70-71), small sub-rectangular cells c2m across internally with no evident parallels currently known to the authors, and an oval drystone hut on a knoll enclosed by a boulder wall at Bagh an Ackra. The time depth apparent in the archaeological landscape appeared to be greatest on the Geirisclett peninsula, in contrast to the less fertile land around Loch nan Garnach, where much of the activity can be attributed to the 18th and 19th centuries.
A Full report will be deposited with the NMRS on completion.
Sponsor: The Russel Trust.
I Armit and A Dunwell 1995.

What may be a township comprising five unroofed buildings, three enclosures, two fields and a head-dyke is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Hebrides, North Uist etc 1881, sheet xxx). Three unroofed buildings, two enclosures, a head-dyke and part of a field are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1970).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 9 April 1997

I Armit, 1989c, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 70-71 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10421.

I and A Armit and Dunwell, 1995a, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 108 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38859.