Monument record 428 - TOBAR HUISDEAN, LEWIS

NB53SW 1 5135 3369.

(NB 5135 3369) St.Cowstans Well (NR)
OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1898)

"The well at St. Cowsten's Church"
M Martin 1934; NSA (written by Rev J Cameron) 1845.

"Tobar Uisdean or St. Cowstans Well...The water gushes out from beneath a bank with considerable force and falls into the sea at a few chains from its source." Said to cure diseases " by placing the patient under the cliff where the water falls on the shore. Four local informants called it "Tobar Uisdean" and the fifth (Allan Ross, Gaelic teacher, Luirbost) "Tobair Huisdean", but the note is added: "From the descriptive remarks and the well's contiguity to where the chapel stood, also other information secured from the inhabitants this is likely to be the well alluded to in the NSA (1845) as dedicated to St. Cowstan."
Name Book 1848.

St. Cowstans Well listed as "site" without comment.
RCAHMS 1928.

The name Cowstan is supposed to be derived from Constantine and a Gaelic form "Chuisdean" becoming "Huisdean" and ultimately by confusion with Hugh, "Uisdean" or "Uisdein" is quite possible. Spelling suggested: Tobar Huisdein (the H indicating that it is not Hugh).
Visited by OS (A L F R) assistent archaeology officer, 16 January 1964; Information from W Matheson, Dept. of Celtic, Edinburgh University.

The spring has now formed a marshy basin at the foot of the cliff, from which a stream issues to flow down to the sea over the lower cliff. Visited by OS (A L F R) assistant archaeology officer, 23 April 1964.

Tobar Chuisdean however, is still well known. It is situated at the top of the cliff line at NB 61368 33760 and falls from here down the cliff to the beach below. Immediately to the north of the beach is Dun Mor, a promontory fort and Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Barrowman 2005, 65

Martin Martin, 1695a, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695, 7 (see 2nd ed., 1716) (Bibliographic reference). SWE5082.

NSA, 1845, The New Statistical Account of Scotland..., Vol. 14, Ross-shire, 120 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4553.

J R Walker, 1882-3, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 189 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7306.

J M Mackinlay, 1893, Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs, 54-5 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4762.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 17, No. 61 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 21A, 47 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.

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