Monument record 400 - TEAMPULL BHRIGHID, LEWIS

NB45NW 5 4098 5733.

(NB 4098 5733) Teampull Bhrighid (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

"Church of St Brigit in Barove" - listed.
M Martin 1934.

A pile of stones, resembling more the remains of a hut than a church. About 100 years ago the interior was used as a burying ground.
Name Book 1852.

An irregular grassy mound in an old burying ground, the stones having been removed since 1888, when the land was given to crofters. The mound lies nearly ENE and WNW. {sic}
RCAHMS 1928, visited 11th July 1914.

The site of Teampull Bhrighid is as described by the RCAHMS. Many gravestones are visible in the disused graveyard, and the footings of the east half of the enclosing wall survive. Name not verified.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 18 June 1969.

The teampall is located at NB 40989 57313. low grassy banks are all that remain of the walling, although the layout of the building can still just be discerned, and it si aligned as described by the RCAHMS in 1914, ENE by WNW. There is clearly a lot of stone tumble obscuring the form of the building. However, it is around 9m wide and 13.5m long, externally, and appears to be divided into two separate parts by a small bank closer to the east end, that divides a larger central area of 5m by 5.5m internally, from a smaller area at the east end of 2m x 2m internally. The small dividing bank may be a later curved wall set into the earlier building, perhaps re-use of the old building for a shelter, but this is pure conjecture without excavation.
The building is situated on a roughly square, enclosing platform, around 15m by 16m, with indications of some small unmarked gravestones and larger fallen stones (also unmarked) scattered across it just under the turf. The platform is situated at the top of the slope above Allt Grunndal to the south. The edges of the platform dip down at all sides, except on the NW side, where a modern drain runs along the site, to the adjacent field, and Tobar Bhrigid (St Bridget's well). Encircling the inner platform there is an outer enclosing low, turf bank, enclosing an area roughly 22m NW-SE by 31m NE-SW, which is cut by the modern drain to the west and slopes down to the river at the bottom of the slope to the east…
Barrowman 2005 25

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, 2, No. 4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 5A, 22 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.

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