Monument record 676 - HOWMORE, SOUTH UIST

NF73NE 1.00 centred 758 364

NF73NE 1.01 NF 7580 3646 Church
NF73NE 1.02 NF 7584 3649 Chapel
NF73NE 1.03 NF 7583 3647 Church
NF73NE 1.04 NF 7580 3644 Chapel
NF73NE 1.05 NF 758 364 Chapel
NF73NE 1.06 NF 758 364 Carved Stone

(NF 7580 3646) Teampull Mor (NR) (Ruin)
(NF 7584 3649) Caibeal Nan Sagairt (NR) (Ruins)
(NF 7583 3647) Caibeal Dhiarmaid (NR) (Ruin).
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Group of two churches and three chapels at Howmore, South Uist. One chapel, observed in 1855, was removed before 1866. The churches were dedicated to St. Mary and to St. Columba.
The largest building (OS. Teampull Mor) is 66ft by 26 3/4ft over side walls 2ft 8ins and gables 2ft 10ins thick.
The other church (OS. Caibeal Dhiarmaid) has only the east gable remaining. It has been 18 3/4ft wide, the side walls were 2ft and the gable is 3 1/2ft thick.
The larger chapel, to the south of Teampull Mor is 17ft 2ins by 11ft 8ins over walls 2ft 8ins thick.
The remaining chapel (OS. Caibeal nan Sagairt) is 14ft 11ins by 8ft within walls 2 1/2ft thick. The gables are complete but the side walls are ruinous.
RCAHMS 1928; T S Muir 1885; M Martin 1934.

Thomas measured the ruins as follows:-
Teampull Mhaire - 59ft by 20ft
Teampull MacDhiarmid - 66ft by 26ft.
Chapel an t'sagairt - 16 1/4ft by 12 3/4ft.
Caibeal Chlann MhicDhugail - 17ft by 11 1/2ft.
Chapel Mhic Alain - 20ft long by 14 1/2ft at the west end and 12 3/4ft at the east end.
F W L Thomas 1890.

The MacDonalds note that " it is singular that hardly a hint of tradition survives these pre-Reformation buildings. They probably belong to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries....."
A Macdonald and A Macdonald 1896.

The E gable of Teampull Mor stands to roof height; the remaining walls are reduced almost to ground level.
Caibeal Dhiarmaid is generally as described by RCAHMS (1928), M Martin (1934) and T S Muir (1885). The outline of the remaining walls are discernible as grass-covered banks, 0.3m high, making the church 17.0m x 5.0m.
Caibeal nan Sagairt, measuring 5.7m x 4.4m is as described by RCAHMS (1928), M Martin (1934) and T S Muir (1885).
The chapel 18.0m S of Teampull Mor, at NF 7580 3644, measures 5.1m x 3.6m, and survives to roof height.
There is no trace or local knowledge of the fifth chapel "removed before 1866".
Revised at 1/2500
Visited by OS (N K B) 14 May 1965.

The monument is a large mound bearing the remains of a group of ecclesiastical structures, representing two churches, at least two chapels and two burial enclosures. The early history of the site is
not clear, but it was of considerable importance under the Lordship
of the Isles and, in the 16th century, was S Uist's chief church.
The remains occupy a raised area, encircled by a stone bank, roughly oval in plan, which is probably the oldest visible element on the
site, the area having been used for burials over a very long period.
On this mound lie the foundations of two churches, Teampull Moire (St Mary's) and Caibeal Dhiarmaid (dedicated to St Columba), oriented
almost E-W and nearly aligned, with Teampull Moire lying some metres
W of Caibeal Dhiarmaid. On the summit of the mound, NE of Caibeal Dhiarmaid, lies a small chapel, Caibeal Clann ic Ailean (Clan Ranald chapel). To its N and NW lie two burial enclosures, confusingly
called chapels, respectively Caibeal na Sagairt and Caibeal nan Ministear, the latter built in 1855 at the same time as a four-sided graveyard wall which links Teampull Moire, Caibeal Clann ic Ailean
and the two burial enclosures, Caibeal Dhiarmaid lying within the graveyard. Outside this wall, on the S edge of the mound, lies an isolated chapel foundation, referred to locally as Caibeal Dougal. Of each church, only the E gable survives to any height, while the walls
of the chapels and burial enclosures are rather better preserved.
Information from Historic Scotland: (undated) scheduling document.

NF 758 364 A desk-based survey and non-invasive site assessment was made, in association with Simpson and Brown Architects, of the complex of ruined churches and burial enclosures (NMRS NF 73 NE 1 and 35).
Sponsor: Southern Isles Amenity Trust
Addyman, T 2000, 99

NF 7581 3647 A 4-week programme of structural, topographical and geophysical survey was undertaken at the medieval ecclesiastical site of Howmore in July of 2003 and 2004. The remains comprise four medieval buildings surviving to varying degrees and two post-medieval burial enclosures, sited on an eminence and now largely enclosed by a wall of 19th-century origin….
Reynolds, Hamilton and Raven 2004, 139-140
Full details therein

Martin Martin, 1695a, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695, 88 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5082.

F W L and T S Thomas and Muir, 1873, Archaeol Scot, 242 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7759.

W Fraser, 1876, The Earls of Cromartie: their kindred, country and correspondence, Vol. 1, 473-4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13002.

T S Muir, 1885, Ecclesiological notes on some of the Islands of Scotland, 50-1, 280 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5959.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 106, No. 367 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

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

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2004, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41193.