Monument record 546 - TIGH TALAMHANTA, BORVE, BARRA

NF60SE 7 6657 0124.

(NF 6657 0124) Tigh Talamhanta (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

'The place marked Tigh Talamhanta (site of) on the OS map, about 30 yds above the right bank of the burn, Allt Gunnary, in the east end of the township of Balnacraig, is only a site, all traces of a structure having disappeared. The name means "earth-house" ...'
RCAHMS 1928.


All that can be seen at the published site is an irregular turf-covered mound of earth and stones measuring 7.5m by 6.0m. by 0.8m. high. Field-clearance stones have been dumped on its north side.
No certain traces of an earth-house or wheel-house are visible, although a slight rise in the ground is suggestive of a covered passage-way. Visited by OS (W D J) 24 May 1965.

B130 (NF666013) Tigh Talamhanta (RCAHMS 1928: 138, No. 473) identified as 'only a site, all traces of a structure having disappeared'. The name implies the former existence of an 'earth-house', and a similarly named site in Allasdale proved to be a free-standing wheelhouse on excavation (site C2). There is in fact a well-embedded mound of medium-sized stone blocks, about 1.5 m high and about 14 x 12 m in size. The impression is of a substantial structure buried here, and a free-standing wheelhouse would be of about the right size.

Brannigan and Foster 2000, 32-33

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 138 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Keith Branigan & Patrick Foster, 2000, From Barra to Berneray: Archaeological Survey and Excavation in the Southern Isles ... (Bibliographic reference). SWE41033.