Monument record 294 - AIRIGH AN AIP, LEWIS

NB33SE 7 354 341

'A number of shielings' (eight shown, centred NB 354 341).
Name Book 1852; OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 1st ed. (1852), sheet 19.

Eight roofed shieling-huts are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Island of Lewis, Ross-shire 1854, sheet 18). Two unroofed buildings which may be shieling-huts and a sheep pen are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1974).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 24 September 1997.

B030-039, 059, NB33SE7 centred NB 354 341
Airigh an Aip, the remains of post-and wire fence sheep pen in the centre of a group of four stone-built shieling huts, plus another five grassy mounds representing the probable remains of earlier huts.
B031 NB 35386 34123
Shieling hut, aligned E-W, internally square, with an externally battered wall. C. 4m x 1.5m, with walls up to 1m high (except on the south side). Two opposed entrances towards the western end, thg southern being 0.75m wide and well faced. The northern entrance is dilapidated.
B034 NB 35397 34113
Shieling hut inside the modern sheep pen (B033). Low stone footings c. 34m x 2m, walls stnadint to c. 0.4m. The internal face well defined, but no external face visible. Possible internal dividing wall.
B035 NB 35425 34121
Low stone footings of N-S aligned shieling, c. 3m x 2m, on the southern edge of the knoll. Wallling visible in the south-east corner, less so on the east and west sides. Door in the centre of the east wall.
B036 NB 35447 34121
Long narrow shieling, c. 5m x 1.5m, aligned N-S, on the western edge of the group. On the west, the wall stans up to 3 courses, but less on the other sides. The northern half is covered with reeds. Possible entrance towards the southern end fo the east wall. Tumble at the northern end suggests there may have been a platform here.
B059 NB 35461 34074
Square shieling to the south-east of the main group, aligned E-W along the slope, probably c. 3-4m x 2m, though possibly longer. The walls stand to four courses, except the east, which has collapsed. Hearth at West end containing a grate and possible fire back. Doors difficult to identify due to rushes.
B030 NB 35359 34121
B032 NB 35419 34157
B037 NB 35435 34134
B038 NB 35431 34150
B039 BN 35460 34160
a number of low, reed-covered mounds must represent the remains of earlier shieling huts. B030 has the suggestion of a hollow rectangular area in its centre, c. 4m x 2m. Similarly B032 has a hollowed centre defined on the east by a low turf bank.
B033 NB 35398 34119
The badly dilapidated remains of a post and wire sheep pen.
Hooper 200, 26-27

Also listed in J Hooper 2001, 104

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 51, 18 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.

Janet Hooper, 2000, Lewis: Project 891 (Bibliographic reference). SWE41076.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2001, Discovery and Escavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41185.