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MHG27760 - Township - Holoman, Raasay

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A township comprising five roofed buildings, one partially roofed long building, five unroofed buildings, four enclosures and a head-dyke is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Isle of Skye 1879, sheet xxx). One roofed, twelve unroofed buildings, three enlcosures, a sheepfold and a head-dyke are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1989).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 4 November 1996

The survey of Oskaig and Holoman was carried out by ACFA in April 1995 as part of a continuing survey of the Island of Raasay.

Holoman is located on the west coast of Raasay some 3.5 km north of Raasay House at a point where the coast road begins to climb away from the shore and move inland. The township appears on the plan as 'Raasay and Rona' (1846) as buildings within a sizable area of cultivation on the coast where Holoman Island is joined at tow tide. No population is recorded in either the 1841 or 1851 censuses, but it is possible that the inhabitants were recorded with Balachuim, the adjacent township. In 1861 the population included one crofter, one shepherd, three fishermen, four agricultural labourers and four paupers. Three crofters are listed in 1871 though their crofts are not listed in the Valuation Rolls, presumably being rented at less than £4 per annum. The male population in 1881 was a crofter, a cowherd and a labourer of whom only the labourer remained in 1891. The houses then occupied were the two, now ruined, near the shore towards the north of the complex and there was a salmon fishing station. On the south east side of Holoman Island are traces of a slipway and two huts. This is the only evidence to suggest that, at some time, people had lived on the island. Permanent occupation is unlikely as in winter, with gales and high tides, the island must be singularly uncomfortable.

Holoman was for a short time the site of a Gaelic School. From 1846 the school was run by Alexander MacMillan until 1850 when he moved to Fearns in the south of Raasay. At first, the roll shows 35 students attending, presumably from a wide area around. When it closed the numbers had fallen to 14. The creation of a Free Presbyterian Congregation on Raasay in 1893 Jed to the need for a church building to serve the Island. This, together with the manse, was built at Holoman around 1908 on land donated by Mrs. Wood. The site, being a compromise, proved an inconvenient location, especially when the north of the island became depopulated. A new church was built at Borrodale in 1929 and the manse at Holoman was sold off and is now a private residence. The church building is roofless and, being within the grounds of the house, has not been included in this work.

Throughout the site there is evidence of reuse, alteration and of rebuilding over or adjacent to older buildings. It is likely that the structure at the north, feature 26, was the last occupied house, having had a new east gable inserted with an integral fireplace and flue. Immediately adjacent, no. 25 is an abandoned earlier building stripped to the foundations to supply material for the new house. Nos. 9 to 12 represent the salmon fishing station overlying earlier structures which are most obvious at the south end in nos. 3 to 8. The sheep fank, no. 1, at the extreme south, is the reuse of two buildings with windows and is probably the site of the Gaelic School. The process of reuse of the land continues with the building of two new houses at the time of the survey. <1>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 5535 3995 (658m by 879m)
Map sheet	NG53NE
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	PORTREE

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