Monument record 422 - CHICKEN HEAD, EYE, LEWIS

NB52NW 1 507 292.

(NB 507 292) Teampull (NR) (In Ruins)
OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1899).

In a small enclosure on the left bank of a rivulet near the cliff edge, are the foundations of a stone-and-mud building about 18ft x 15ft, oriented WNW and ESE. Other foundations nearby appear to be ruined shielings.
RCAHMS 1928, visited June 1914.

Fragments of hand-made decorated pottery from the Teampull near Chicken Head presented to NMAS by James S Richardson, accession number HR 757:30/3 (Wheelhouse type)
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1924.

The decoration on a sherd from Eye, Lewis, in NMAS (HR 757) was made by impressions of a swivel-ring headed pin of a typed dated by Stevenson between the seventh and tenth centuries.
A Young 1955; R B K Stevenson 1955.

As described by RCAHMS whose measurements are external. The walls are well-built, some of the stone being roughly dressed, and are 3ft 9 ins. thick. The entrance is not evident. The building stands in a rectangular garth, as shown on OS 1/2500 map, bounded on the N by a rock outcrop. Its east and south walls are evident, but its west wall has been destroyed by the superimposition of five shieling-type structures, which have presumably used it as a quarry.
Visited by OS (A L F R) assistant archaeology officer 22 April 1964.

The monument consists of the remains of a chapel of Early Mediaeval
date situated near the coast where a stream flows over the edge of a cliff.
The site is known in Gaelic as 'Tigh an t-Sagairt' (The Priest's
House) or 'Uaithe nighean an t-Sagairt' (the grave of the priest's daughter). The footings of the single chambered oblong chapel are no more than 0.5m high. It is orientated WNW and ESE, measuring 6.6m by 5.1m externally over walls 1.2-1.6m thick. The walls are well built
of large roughly dressed stones. Surrounding the chapel are the
remains of a rectangular wall of turf and stone. The wall is well defined in the S (15.5m from the chapel) and E (23.5m) where it runs uphill to end at a rock outcrop. The wall is obscured in the W where later sheiling huts have utilised its material. The edge of the
stream bank, where it forms the boundary of the enclosure, has been built up with earth and stones.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated March 1992.

The monument known as Chicken Head, chapel 600m E of comprises the remains of a chapel of Early Mediaeval date situated near the coast where a stream flows over the edge of a cliff. The area to be scheduled is irregular measuring a maximum of 50m E-W by 50m N-S, the N boundary running parallel to the m odern fence cutting through the site, the SW boundary defined by the stream The fabric of the modern fence is excluded from scheduling. HS scheduling document, 17 March 1992

NB 507 292 A plan of the chapel was drawn, and a survey of associated remains completed as part of an ongoing project. This drystone chapel, 5.7 x 4.8m externally, sits within a walled garth, probably originally rectangular. The W side of the enclosure seems to have been remodelled with the insertion of a NE-SW aligned two-chambered cellular building, and a number of other structures and a field system. Damage to the site from marine erosion, sheep tracks and rabbits is being monitored.
Sponsor: Lewis and Harris Archaeology Group
Knott, C M 2000, 102

desk-top assessment, photographs
This site was visited but not subjected to full walkover survey as this has already been done by the Lewis and Harris Archaeology Group, in tandem with a plane table survey, and the results lodged in the SMR and DES (Knott 2000c). The site was found to be as described in the Scheduled Monument description in the SMR and the DES entry. It is unusual in being a single chapel building, within a small enclosure, with further smaller cellular buildings around it, most of which can be seen to post-date the enclosure wall, as well as later shielings added outwith the enclosure. The E-W aligned teampall walls stant to 0.6m at themost, and the interior is full of rubble collapse.
Barrowman 2005

PSAS, 1923-4, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 14, No. 44 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9035.

A Young, 1952-3, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 94 illust. (Bibliographic reference). SWE8433.

R B K Stevenson, 1955a, Proc Prehist Soc, 292 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8343.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2000, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41184.

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