Monument record 75 - TIGH A' BHEANNAICH, LEWIS

NB03NW 1 0388 3790.

(NB 0388 3790) The ruins of a small chapel lie on the promontory 'An Bheannachadh' (Gaelic: 'The Blessing' - a name commonly applied to places which a saint had blessed, or had his church. W J Watson 1926.) The promontory has always been considered a holy place. (Detail shown on OS 6"map but not named).
The 'Teampull', known as 'Tigh a Bheannaich', stands to an average height of about 4ft, with the fallen upper part of the wall filling up the interior to a considerably depth. It measures 18' 1" by 10' 8" internally within walls 2' 7" to 3' 6" thick, constructed of stone bonded with clay.
A spring showing slight evidence of building around it lies about 32' SW of the church.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7; W J Watson 1926.

Tigh a' Bheannaich, the remains of a chapel, as described and planned by the RCAHMS.
The spring is now filled in, but still shows a trickle of water.
Visited by OS (R L) 1 July 1969.

'The monument...comprises the remains of a small chapel of simple construction called, "Tigh a 'Bheannaich" (Blessing House). The area to be scheduled is square with sides measuring a maximum of 26m to include the chapel and an area surrounding it which may contain evidence for activity associated with its use and construction.'
HS Scheduling Document 5 May 1992.

17: NB 0390 3790
Chapel complex
this ruined drystone chapel sits on the south shore of a small unnamed loch and measures 7m west-east by 5m north-south. It stands up to 1.5m high. The interior is filled with rubble which must represent the remainder of the roof and walls. The entrance at the east end of the south wall has been blocked by the constructio of a small round cell within the chapel. This cell measures 0.7m diameter. 3m to the east of the chapel are a group of sub-circular cells measuring 2m by 5m. Elsewhere within the immediate vicinity of the chapel are 12 other cells of similar drystone construction.
Burgess 1996, 27

NB 0386 3791 Monastic settlement, Tigh a'Bheannaich. A fieldwalking and mapping exercise was executed around the chapel of Tigh a'Bhaeannaich located to the W of the township of Aird Uig. The stone-built chapel is enclosed on a broad promontory by a large wall that runs from the southern cliffs to an inland loch and from there to the northern sea cliffs. This wall survives as well-built drystone coursing up to 2m in height at its S end, but continues N of the loch as a mainly earth bank with small stones and turf.
Surrounding the chapel are 10-12 cellular structures with diameters ranging from 2-3m. Many of these structures are located amongst bare rock on W-facing sea cliffs and have suffered extensive erosion. To the N of the chapel are six cairns of varying sizes (2-4m in diameter). Two of these cairns are kerbed and may be prehistoric.
Sponsors: HS, University of Edinburgh - Dept of Archaeology
Burgess 1998, 105

This chapel is located at NB 03872 37898 and is as described and drawn by the Royal Commission except that more collapse has occurred at the SW corner. The interior of the building measures 6m EW by 3m NW, and the walls are on average 1m thick, and stand to a maximum height of 1.5m. The NW corner of the chapel has collapsed a long time ago, and is covered by grass now. Also, the clay bonding noted by the Royal commission was not identified, and may have since eroded away from the stonework. A large flat lintel stone lying in the doorway on the south side measures 1.2m long and gives an indication of the size of the original doorway. The whole of the exterior of the south wall iscovered with collapsed stone, as is most of the interior and the original doorway. Opposite this doorway is what appears to be a further blocked doorway. This is not shown by the Royal commission, but is noted by McGibbon and Ross. The blocked splayed window on the S side can be clearly seen, and measures 0.8m internally. The blocked splayed window on the E wall meausres 0.35m externally to 0.7m internally. A later structure built into the top of the teampall has been noted (Burgess, Church & Gilmour 1998), but this could not be seen.
Indications of three small structures were noted close to the east and west sides of the teampall, as noted by the OS. Therer are also several small circular structures recorded in the vicinity of the site.
The teampall is situated on a small headland at Druim Bheannaich. The landward side of the headland to the east is partially bounded by Loch a Bheannaich, and partially by a well-built stone wall stretching from the south shore of the loch to Geodh' a' Bheannaich in the cliffs at the south end, and a less well built stone and turf wall from the north end of the loch to the cliffs on the north side of the headland. The entire area is thus cut off from Aird Uig to the east.
Barrowman 2005, 48

D & T MacGibbon & Ross, 1896, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian Times to the17th Century, 80 plan fig. 43 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4321.

W J Watson, 1926, The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland: being the Rhind lectures on archaeology 1916, 263 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7623.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 18-19, No. 63 plan fig. 53 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Christopher Burgess and Michael Church, 1996, Uig Landscape Survey: Interim Report 1 (Unpublished document). SWE41181.

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

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 1998, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41173.

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