Monument record 828 - ST KILDA VILLAGE, UNDERGROUND CELL

NF19NW 21.24 1012 9922.

This small stone-lined structure lies in the lower meadows on the boundary between the plots formerly associated with Houses 7 and 8. It is roofed by lintels, two of which are exposed and loose on the ground surface. The subterranean chamber is oval on plan, measuring 1.27m in maximum length by 0.91m transversely. The visible remains comprise two courses of masonry, possibly slightly corbelled, standing about 0.4m above a vegetation-covered floor; the full depth is unknown.
Although its precise nature and purpose cannot be determined without excavation, the structure may possibly be an example of one of the types of ancient burial discussed by Mackenzie, who wrote 'Scattered about, here and there, and very numerous, were green mounds called gnocan sithichean, which were looked upon as the abodes of the fairies. These were all removed in the course of agricultural improvements. They were composed of stones mixed with a little earth to a depth of two or three feet. At some distance below this layer were stone coffins formed in two different ways. At times they were formed of four flat stones set on edge and covered by a fifth. At other times both the sides and the roof were formed of several stones set in the same way. These were seemingly of different age from the former. In a few of them bones were found, and in nearly all of them pieces of earthen vessels.'
The structures of the first type are clearly cist-burials and are presumably of Bronze Age or later date. The second type may be compared with the corbelled chamber excavated at Rossinish in Benbecula (NF85SE 5), which was about 1m in internal diameter and was partly sunk into the ground, partly covered by a small mound. The contents of this and associated structures indicated a Bronze Age date.
J B Mackenzie 1911; G P Stell and M Harman 1988.

J B Mackenzie, 1904-5, Proc Soc Antiq Scot (Bibliographic reference). SWE4579.

G P and M Stell and Harman, 1988, Buildings of St Kilda, 49, no. 24 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8255.