Monument record 8 - FIANUIS, RONA

HW83SW 6 814 331

(Area: HW 814 331) At the base of the peninsula of Fianuis is a sheep-fank together with a small wall across the neck of the peninsula. North of this and on the east-facing side of the head deposit which partially makes the peninsula is a number of small irregular enclosures crudely outlined without properly constructed walls. With one of these are associated the remains of some stone-built huts, the corbelled roof of one remaining intact.
The purpose of these enclosures is obscure certainly no cultivation could ever have been undertaken here. They may be associated with either sheep or cattle and may well be relatively recent. Rona is rented by Ness farmers who pasture about 150 sheep there, and during their annual shearing visit they maintain the fank and one or two of the bothies including the roofed hut.
Until the early years of the present century regular visits were made for the purpose of killing seals; some of the ruinous bothies on Fianuis may have been erected by the seal-hunters.
H C Nisbet and R A Gailey 1960

Seven unroofed structures, five of which are annotated as Ruins, seven enclosures and some walls are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Island of Lewis 1854, sheet 47). Four unroofed structures, seven enclosures and some walls are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 26 June 1997

H C and R A Nisbet and Gailey, 1960, Archaeol J, 92-4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4509.