Monument record 815 - ST KILDA VILLAGE, STOREHOUSE

Summary

Feather store

Location

Grid reference NF 10400 99040 (point)
Map sheet NF19NW
Island Hirta, St Kilda
Parish HARRIS, Western Isles

Map

Type and Period (2)

Full Description

NF19NW 21.01 1040 9904.

This two-storeyed and gabled building stands close to the SE shore of Village Bay, facing SW. The roof and the E half of its three-bay frontage were damaged by gunfire from a German U-boat in May 1918, but a recent programme of restoration has led to the restitution of the damaged front wall and the re-roofing of the structure for use as bothy accommodation.
Marked as 'storehouse' on Sharbau's plan of 1858-60, the building was originally erected some time before 1819, when a visitor noted that 'church service is performed in a house that was erected as a store for the wool and feathers of the natives'.
The building is rectangular on plan, measuring 10.1m in length by 5.7m transversely over walls 0.6m in average thickness. The masonry is lime-mortared rubble which is partly laid to courses and is neatly dressed at the quoins and margins to all openings. Founded partly on a projecting footings-course and partly on bare-rock at the front and sides, the walls are set into the slope of the hillside at the rear, where there is a revetted drainage ditch.
There is a ground-level entrance in the centre of the SW side-wall and surviving original window-openings in the W bay have through splays which show the positions of erstwhile frames. The first floor also has a window in the rear wall, and towards the W end of that wall there is a doorway which has a stepped and bridged approach across the drainage-ditch. All the openings are lintelled. Chimney-stacks at the apex of each gable have squared drip-courses and stepped verges above plain gable copes.
Inside, the ground floor is cobbled, and there is a slab-covered drain running along the inner face of the rear wall. Fireplaces with straight ingoings are placed at each end of the ground floor. The upper floor, which has been timber-joisted, appears to have been reached independently by the rear doorway, and there is no clear evidence of the nature or position of an internal stair.
G P Stell and M Harman 1988.


G P and M Stell and Harman, 1988, Buildings of St Kilda, 35, no. 1 plans, elevation, photograph (Bibliographic reference). SWE8255.

Susan Bain, NTS (GUARD), 2002, St Kilda Archaeologist Annual Report 2002 (Bibliographic reference). SWE41077.

Sources/Archives (2)

  • --- Bibliographic reference: Susan Bain, NTS (GUARD). 2002. St Kilda Archaeologist Annual Report 2002.
  • --- Bibliographic reference: G P and M Stell and Harman. 1988. Buildings of St Kilda. 35, no. 1 plans, elevation, photograph.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Record last edited

Jul 28 2005 2:24PM

Comments and Feedback

Do you have any questions or more information about this record? Please feel free to comment below with your name and email address. All comments are submitted to the website maintainers for moderation, and we aim to respond/publish as soon as possible. Comments, questions and answers that may be helpful to other users will be retained and displayed along with the name you supply. The email address you supply will never be displayed or shared.