Monument record 11474 - LEWIS, ALLT CREAGAN NAN FEANNAG

NB33NW 48 3467 3563

An archaeological assessment was undertaken in advance of a potential windfarm development at Beinn Mholach and Arnish Moor. A total of 29 areas (over 100 individual sites) of archaeological remains were identified, most of which relate to post-medieval shieling practice, lazy bed cultivation, peat cutting, and to the 19th and 20th-century use of these upland areas. The proposed windfarm development involves two areas of peat moorland in the centre of Lewis. (GUARD 891).
NB 3467 3563
Allt Creagan nan Feannag
Shieling group.
Full report lodged with the NMRS.
Sponsor: Dulas Ltd
J Hooper 2001
REPORT DATE: 18/06/2002


B023-025 NB 3467 3563
Allt Creagan nan Feannag, a group of three stone-built shieling huts on either side of the burn.

Two unroofed buildings are shown on the east side of the Allt Creagan nan Feannag on the OS 2nd edition map (1895), although they do not appear on the 1st edition map (1849-52). The same two buildings are whosn on the current edition of the 1:10000 map (1972). On the vertical air photographs from 1946, these two buildings are clearly visible, alongside a number of other possible mounded strucutres, lying within a large cleared area stretching across the south-facing slopes either side of the burn.

B023 NB 34696 35641
a very nicely constructed shieling hut, boat-shaped in plan and with two very narrow opposed entrances (0.2m - 0,25m wide), positioned at the widest point in its long walls. The walls themselves stand to eight courses in height (c. 0.6m). The structure is aligned N-S and is c. 4.5m long by 2m broad at its widest point. The straight north gable wall has a plinth built out from its centre, defining small cupboards on either side. The east wall also contains a small cupboard.

B024 NB 34691 35628
Another, less well-preserved shieling hut, B024, lies just to the south of B 023. It is of rectangular form, c. 4m by 1.5m wide. It has a single, slightly off-centre entrance in the east wall. Like B023, it is aligned N-S

B025 NB 34650 35620
Building B025, lying on the opposite side of the Allt Creagan nan Feannag to the other two buildings in the group, is imilar in size and shape to B024. The single entrance is located towards the southern end fo the the east wall.
Hooper 2000, 20-21

Also listed in J Hooper 2001, 104

Janet Hooper, 2000, Lewis: Project 891 (Bibliographic reference). SWE41076.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2001, Discovery and Escavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41185.