Monument record 235 - TEAMPULL EOIN, LEWIS

NB24NE 3 2882 4890.

(NB 2882 4890) Teampull Eoin (NR) (In Ruins)
OS 6"map, (Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

'Church of St John the Baptist in Bragar'.
M Martin 1934.

Teampull Eoin (John), a ruin within a graveyard, consists of a nave and chancel, built of rough rubble and orientated nearly NW and SE.
The nave measures internally 19ft 9 ins by 11ft, with walls from 2ft 5ins to 3ft 5ins thick. The gables are 11ft 2 ins from floor to apex, and the side walls are 6ft high. It is entered by a door in the west end of the south wall.
The chancel, measuring internally about 9ft long by 6ft 10 ins wide, is lower than the nave, reaching only to a height of 7ft 4 ins at the gable.
The building may be of 15th century date.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1928.

Teampull Eoin occupies a knoll within the enlarged grave-yard and is as described by the Commission, except that the arch shown in the photograph is now tumbled.
Visited by OS (R L) 17 June 1969.

This chapel is known by two names: St John's Chapel and Cill Sgaire. Cill is Celtic, and Sgaire is a personal Norse name still found in Lewis; St John's Chapel is the newer and more Roman name. ...
At one time there was a special spring close by called Fuaran Buaile Dhomhnaill, but a JCB destroyed it some years back. The remains of an old kitchen midden can be seen above the shore line. An underground channel was discovered between that spot and the graveyard itself a few years back.
Finlay MacLeod, The Chapels in the Western Isles, 19

To ... owners of the monument consisting of Teampull Eoin, Chapel, Port More shown coloured red on the annexed plan, part of lands of Barvas and others ... the Secretary of State hereby gives notice that it is his intention to include the Monument above specified in a list of monuments ...
Schedule 23.2.77

The monument known as Teampull Eoin, chapel, graveyard and settlement, Prot Mhor Bragar, Lewis, comprises the ruins of a later medieval church and its graveyard, the extended pre-20th century graveyard and an underlying prehistoric settlement mound. Teampull Eoin (St John's Chapel) is situated close to the shore, on the E side of Port Mhor Bragar,NW Lewis. The area to be scheuled is defined by the trapezoidal boundaries of the pre-20th century graveyard and measures 62m from SW - NE by up to 50m transversely, to include the medieval church and later graveyard, as well as the core of the prehistoric settlement mound and an area in which associated remains may survive. Active burial laris are excluded from the scheduling.
Historic Scotland scheduling document 10.2.2005

Teampall Eoin is a well-known and well-recorded scheduled monument… Theis site was not therefore given priority for a walkover survey in in 2004/5.
Barrowman 2005, 32

Stone roofing slates
Five metres from the east gable of the teampall are three grave markers with pierced holes, which are clearly former roof slates with wooden peg holes, and the possibility exists that these are from the former roof of the Teampall, which would indicate that the roof was slated
Crawford 2008, 4

Finlay MacLeod, The Chapels in the Western Isles (Bibliographic reference). SWE41030.

Martin Martin, 1695a, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695, 27 (2nd ed. 1716) (Bibliographic reference). SWE5082.

Chapman, James / Gibbs, Alexander, 1807-09, Plan of [the] Island of Lewis (Cartographic materials). SWE41337.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 1, No. 2 plan fig. 20, illust. fig. 41 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

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

James Crawford, 2008, Loch Roag Island Survey and other notes (Unpublished document). SWE41192.