Monument record 385 - TEAMPULL NAN CRO' NAOMH, LEWIS

NB45NW 1 4329 5931.

(NB 433 593) Teampull nan Cro'Naomh (NR) (In Ruins)
OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

"Holy Cross Church in Galan" listed.
M Martin 1934.

"Teampull nan Cro'Naomh..., situated within an old grave-yard".
"The two gables are destroyed, and the earth outside the church reaches almost to the wall-heads". Despite Martin's version, "as it stands the name would appear to mean Church of the Holy Blood".
RCAHMS 1928, visited 28 June 1921.

"Part of the outer walls remain, in a crumbling condition"
OS Reviser (W S) 21 June 1956.

Teampull nan Cro' Naomh, at NB 4329 5931, is as described and planned by the Commission. The graveyard is still in use and the name is still known locally.
Visited by OS (N K B) 16 June 1969.

To ... owners of the monument consisting of Teampull nan Cro'Naomh, a chapel 410 metres or thereby West North West of Galson shown coloured red on the annexed plan ...
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

This chapel is located at nb 43282 59301, and is as described by the RCAHMS except that the NW corner of the chapel has collapsed a long time ago and is covered by grass now. The walls are up to 0.8m thick. The window in the N wall is positioned 0.6m south of the NE corner and is 0.25m wide externally, splayed out to 0.6m wide internally. It is about 0.7m tall. The bottom has become blocked by collapse. There is a deep infill of sand and vegetation in the interior of the chapel.
The teampall building is set into a large sub-circular mound in the graveyard. Overall the mound measures 35m N-
S and 29m E-W, although there is a plateau on the top of the mound, slightly hollow, surrounding the building. The west side of this plateau is defined by a stony bank, first apparent 4.8m west of the NW corner of the teampall, and curving around to the south at 4m beyond the Sw corner. The plateau, or hollow, continues, although the stones are no longer evident, up to the SE corner of the chapel, where it can no longer be traced. This may be the remains of an earlier enclosure wall.
There are rough unmarked gravesontes across the old part of the cemetery, but these are almost impossible to make out due to the thick tussocky grass that covers the area. …
Barrowman 2005, 21

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

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 2, No. 5 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

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.