Monument record 307 - TEAMPULL PHEADAIR, LEWIS

NB35SE 10 3792 5499.

(NB 3792 5499) Teampull Pheadair (NR) (In Ruins)
OS 6'map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed.,(1898)

'Church of St Peter in Shiadir' - Listed
M Martin 1934.

The turf-covered footing of Teampull Pheadair, in which can be seen stretches of the the outer wall-face, indicate a nave and chancel oriented E-W.
Externally the nave measures 7.8m E-W by 5.0m transversely, and the chancel 2.6m E-W by 3.4m transversely. No internal features survive. The name is still known locally.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 18 June 1969.

Noted on Coastal Erosion Assessment 1997

Site visit July 1999, not imminently threatened, but could be in the next decade. MML

'The monument...comprises of a small medieval settlement, including the remains of a chapel dedicated to St Peter, underlain by Iron Age midden deposits. The area to be scheduled is irregular and measures a maximum of 120m NW-SE by 50m transversely to include the chapel, prehistoric midden and medieval settlement.'
HS Scheduling Document 24 February 1992.

Visited follogin the storms of January 2005, but a full walkover survey was not completed. Further erosion was noted at the cliff section at the site, but stones that were noted in the section at the site of the teampall, were still in situ after the storm and remarkably little further damage had occurred.
Barrowman 2005,27

SABS20: NB 37943 54989
This site is as described in the SMR and the RCAHMS inventory. The turf-covered footings of this stone building can be seen, aligned east to west, with the outer face of the north and south walls visible, and the south west and north west corners of the nave still traceable through the turf. The building measures up to 5m externally, and the walls stand to 1m on the north and west sides. The narrower, 3m wide, chancel can be discerned, apart from the east end, which has slumped into the conjoining enclosure wall.
This building is clearly part of a whole suite of remains from the pre-crofting period, in the form of ruinous buildings and enclosure walls, SABS 14-19 (SMR nos. 14393-17397) and 21-24 shown as ruins on the 1st ed map (1853). However, there is also evidence here of earlier ocucpation as observed in the eroding midden in the cliff section to the west of the building (SABS 13, smr no. 308). There is a well noted on the 1st ed Map (1853) adjacent to the east of Teampall Pheadair and SABS 19 (smr no. 14397)…
NB in the SABS walkover, three small possible burial markers in alginment were noted, just protruding from the turf. No other indications of a burying place could be found in the vicinity, within the enclosure walls.
Barrowman 2007, 23-25

Christopher Burgess and Michael Church, Coastal Erosion Assessment, Lewis (Bibliographic reference). SWE41002.

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

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 1-2, No. 3 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

M, G and E Ponting, Ponting an, 1977, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 33 (Bibliographic reference). SWE14572.

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

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

Rachel Barrowman, 2007, Siadar Active Breakwater Scheme: Desk-based assessment, walkover survey and recommendations (Unpublished document). SWE41165.