Monument record 32 - MEALISTA, LEWIS

NA92SE 1 9902 2421, 9897 2421 and 9900 2418.

(Area NA 990 242) Grave Yard (NAT). (NA 990 2418) Stone (NAT)
OS 6"map, (1965)

(NA 9902 2421) The foundations of an oblong church, 25' by 15'8" over walls 2'8" thick and orientated south of east and north of west,lie about 200 yds west of Mealista farm-house. A small burying ground lies between the church and the sea.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914.

"Teampull Mhealastadh" is an old grave yard only occasionally used. There has never been a church or any kind of meeting house in or about this place, as far as can be ascertained.
'Clach Mhor an Teampull' is an irregular stone 9' high by 12' wide in the grave-yard. 'It is of no note except its size'.
Name Book 1928.

There was a shrine of St Catan at Maelista (as opposed to the nunnery at NA92SE 3)
W C Mackenzie 1919

The graveyard, unenclosed and no longer in use, is at NA 9897 2421. Unable to locate any remains of the church described by RCAHMS in an area which has been utilized by wartime military structures.
No further information regarding the 'Shrine of St Catan'.
Visited by OS (R L) 30 June 1969.

Chapel complex and cemetery identified on coastal erosion survey 1996.
Burgess & Church 1997

Teamapll Mhealastadh is located at NA98983 24198 in a small graveyard at the edge of the coast, and adjacent to the remains of at least four later buildings of an old settlement. The graveyard comprises an irregular grassy raised area on a natural rocky area, just south of the point Rubha an teampaill. The graveyard is roughly 20m N-S by 10m E-W, and is enclosed by a revetting bank on the west south and north sides. The east side has been obscured by the addition of later buildings, the west side is cut by an eoriding cliff line. At least two, two-part, later structures are situated at the east side of the graveyard, aligned N-S and immediately adjacent to the east chapel wall. To the north of the chapel, and adjacent to it, is a further gbuilding aligned N-S. The teampalll building is in the SW corner of the graveyard and meausres 8m E-W and 5.5m N-S externally. The walls are visible as low, grassy banks, with occasional stonework apparent, especially at the doorway in the south wall. Tehre is a possible window or second doorway in the north wall, almost opposite. The doorway in the south wall is around 1m wide, and the walls of the teampall are about 1m wide, from bottom of bank on either site. The graveyard was once fenced off, but the fence is now collapsed.
All the gravestones in the graveyard bar one are low, rough, unmakred stones of around 0.3m high on average. There are lines of gravestones N-S across the graveyard, with what appears to be head and foot stones. Mnay of the gravestones are now just below the turf, but there appeard to be at least five rowns of burials, with 46 stones in each row on average. North of the NE corner of the teampall is a setting of 12 stones, including three large sontes, in a sub-circular arrangment 2m N-S by 2.5m E-W. The one inscribed stone is lying flat on the north side of the graveyard. The inscription is now almost illegible.
Barrowman 2005, 53-54

Full topographic survey
Barrowman 2006, 15-19

W C Mackenzie, 1919, The Book of the Lews: the story of a Hebridean Isle, 137-8 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12815.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 18, No. 66 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Burgess, Christopher & Church, Michael, 1997, Coastal Erosion Assessment, Lewis. A Report for Historic Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41000.

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 78, 64-5 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.

Rachel Barrowman, 2005, Lewis Coastal Chapel-sites Survey 2004/5 (Unpublished document). SWE41095.

Rachel Barrowman, 2006, Lewis Coastal Chapel-Sites Survey: Topographic Survey 2005 (Unpublished document). SWE41122.