Monument record 19 - "TIGH STALLAR", BORERAY

NA10SE 1 1525 0505.

(NA 15060499) Tigh Stallar (NR)
OS 6"map, annotated by J Mathieson (1928)

Stallar House described by Macaulay (K Macaulay 1764) and Kennedy (A Kennedy and F W L Thomas 1875), and the discrepancies between them suggest there was more than one such construction. Mathieson, (J Mathieson 1928) however, described it as being similar to the Amazon's House (NA00SE 2) but much larger; the name 'Stallar' having nothing to do with one Stallar, a hermit traditionally associated with Boreray, but is Norse ('Haillr - a shed).
The site was visited in 1960 by Williamson who found it occupied by a small cleit, the stones of Tigh Stallar having evidently been removed to build the adjacent (but now ruined) bothies. He found the circular foundations of beehive bed-chambers and beautifully corbelled vault, entirely underground, which appeared to be intact. Near the cleit, a sherd of crude pottery was picked up (possibly a beaker or pot-rim) with straight line decoration of a type not seen on St Kilda. The southern slopes of Boreray show many other signs of habitation, such as boundary markers in the form of lines of stones and 'attenuated furrows of turf'. There are at least two wells.
J Sands (1875), states that there were then 3 'bee-hive' type houses, occupied by the women who snared birds. The evidence suggests an early settlement site of some permanency, when climatic conditions were more suitable than those of today.
K Macaulay 1764; A Kennedy and F W L Thomas 1875; J Mathieson 1928; K Williamson and J M Boyd 1963; J Sands 1875.

Access to Boreray was not possible at time of visit; but the above description indicates a settlement pattern similar to that in Gleann Mor, Hirta, with early 'bee-hive' structures, and later rectangular shieling-type bothies; although the account by Sands and others, tends to infer that all the structures on that remote and inhospitable island were solely constructed for use during the summer season for tending sheep and snaring birds.
Visited by OS (J L D) 12 August 1967.

K Macaulay, 1764, The History of St Kilda, 50 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12859.

A and F W L Kennedy and Thomas, 1872-4, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 704-5 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3261.

J Sands, 1875, Life in St Kilda, 52 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12860.

J Mathieson, 1927-8, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 130 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5190.

K and J M Williamson and Boyd, 1963, A Mosaic of Islands, 166-70 (Bibliographic reference). SWE11218.