Monument record 12184 - LEWIS, LOCH BEAG A' CHOCAIR

NB33SW 4 3408 3469

What may be three unroofed shieling-huts are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Island of Lewis, Ross-shire 1852, sheet 19), but they are not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1990).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 24 September 1997.

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 3408 3467
Loch Beag a' Chocair
Shieling group.
Full report lodged with the NMRS.
Sponsor: Dulas Ltd
J Hooper 2001
REPORT DATE: 17/06/2002

Loch Beag a'Chocair, three unroofed shieling huts depicted on the OS 1st ed map, only the slight remains of one possible hut being located on the ground.
On either side of the burn linking Loch n Cairteach with Loch Beag a'Chocair, close to where it opens out into the more southerly loch, are two roofed shieling huts, annotated as 'ruins' on the OS 1st ed map (1849-52). A third roofed hut lies just to the north. All are shown on the OS 2nd ed map, but are not annotated. None appear on the most recent editionof the 1:10000 map. On the vertical air photographs from 1946, the two more southerly huts are clearly visible, but the one further to the north is not.
B017 NB 34089 34675
A single, ill-defined course of stones seem to be all that is left of the most sout-easterly shieling hut depicted on the OS 1st ed map. The remains suggest a roughly square building, c. 2m x 1m. Aligned NNE-SSW. The buildings lie on ground immediately to the east of the shallow declivity through which the burn runs.
The area between Loch Beag a'Chocair and Loch na Cairteach is undergoing considerable natural erosion of the peat and this may explain why neither of the other two buildings were located.
Hooper 2000, 24-25

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.