Monument record 373 - NORTH BEACH, LEWIS

NB43SW 9 422 327.

(NB 422 327) One, possibly two Cromwellian forts, built largely for defence against the Dutch. Plan, apparently of the earlier fort, preserved at Worcester College, Oxford 'It is entitled (spelling modernised) 'The ground plat (plan) of the fortification at Stornoway upon Lewis Island, ' and the date is said to be 1653, the year in which the English garrison was placed in Lewis'.
Reference:
a.'The Manor house built by Englishmen for love of the fishing trade. b.'The church wherein beds may be made for 200 men.'
c.'Store-houses two or three loft high'.
d. 'A Brewing-House.'
e.'Trenches 20 feet wide, 15 feet deep.'
f. 'Two draw-wells'.
g. 'Part of the town'
h.'A fort in an island about a quarter of a mile from the town.'
It appears likely that the W line of trench-work ran approx. along Cromwell Street, the east line somewhere near James Street. Of the two wells the square one is still extant 'at the southern extremity of
the curing-yard No. 28 South Beach.'
The 'fort in an island' must refer to Eilan na Gothail Goat Island (NB27NE 6).
The evidence for the second fortification consists in references to and remains of a tower which does not appear on the plan. In 1753 Captain Barlow wrote: 'There is the remains of anold fort built by Oliver Cromwell, which was demolished by the English garrison when they were withdrawn from that country in the reign of King Charles II.'
The OSA (1797) says 'Near it (the castle) was a tower built by Cromwell to awe the neighbourhood'.
'Some 8 years ago (ie. 1911) the remains of rubble-work, about 8ft thick, were found about 2 or 3ft from the surface, in the course of some drain repairs behind Esplanade House, this house being approx. 80 yards N from the remains of the Old Castle. It is impossible to associate this rubble-work with the Old Castle. Yet its thickness seems to preclude any idea for its origin other than for a fort. And it is difficult to resist the conclusion 'that it is part of the fort mentioned by Barlow and OSA.
W C MacKenzie 1919; OSA 1797; Information contained in letter from Captain Barlow, 1753.

No traces of the Cromwellian fort are now to be seen.
Visited by OS (A L F R) assistent archaeology officer, 22 April 1964.

'A plan purporting to be the Cromwellian fort, 'the ground plan of the fortification at Stornoway upon Lewis Island', dating apparently to 1653, gives some detail of its (the fort's) establishment. A 'manor house' was enclosed. This may have been an existing feature, related to the earlier fisheries. A church, presumably that which was being built by Colin Mackenzie, first earl of Seaforth, in 1630, functioned as a dormitory for 200 soldiers. There were store houses 'two or three loft high', probably also a relic from the fisheries, and a brew-house. The plan also suggest that the fort was protected by the sea, with possibly flooded fields to the north, on two sides, which would mean that it did not stand further inland than the neck of the Point; it was also flanked by trenches, twenty feet wide and fifteen feet deep, on the two landward sides. Two draw wells are depicted, one inside the fort and the other to the east. ...
Early in 1654, 300 or 400 supporters of Seaforth, under the command of Seaforth himself and Norman MacLeod of Raasay, attacked the Cromwellian garrison. A move was first made against the troops billeted in the town itself. It is said that they removed their possessions into the fort for safety and then fired their houses. ... The attach had little success, largely because of the lack of artillery. In retaliation, the Seaforth men were slaughtered. The Cromwellain soldiers were assisted in this by the 'old natives', which probably means the MacLeods, who still had not come to terms with MacKenzie domination.' Dennison & Coleman 1997, 25

This fort is more likely to be bounded at the eastern end by Cromwell Street, which is noticeably lower than the other streets of the town, and which floods (sometimes) at high spring tides. This is presumably over the eastern defensive ditch of the fort. The church would almost certainly have been St Lennans, which was on North Beach, and the references and sketch in Worcester college both suggest that the western end was probably on the line of what is now Castle street. It is worth considering the possibility that the eastern, Cromwell Street, end may fossilise the line of an earlier promontory ditch/bank, giving a promontory enclosure typical of the island. MML 27.9.99

OSA, The Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol. XIX, 261 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5882.

W C Mackenzie, 1919, The Book of the Lews: the story of a Hebridean Isle, 99-110 plan (Bibliographic reference). SWE12815.

E. Patricia Dennison & Russel Coleman, 1997, Historic Stornoway: the archaeological implications of development (Bibliographic reference). SWE41004.