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MHG5204 - Souterrain and ?hut circle - Tigh Talamhain

Summary

A souterrain and possible hut circle at Tigh Talamhain, Glen Sneosdal.

Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

A souterrain and possible hut circle at Tigh Talamhain, Glen Sneosdal.

1/4 mile E of the deserted farm of Lachasay, on a slight rise above the flat on the right bank of Abhainn Sneosdal, and some 25 yards distant from the stream at NG 4146 7124, is an earth-house known as Tigh Talamhain. The structure was discovered and partly destroyed many years ago when part of the entrance passage was removed and a hole was made in the roof. It consists of a chamber of drystone building converging inwardly towards the roof so as to form a beehive shaped chamber, measuring 5 1/2ft in diameter 3ft from the apex, which is entered through a walled and lintelled passage running almost due E. Of the passage a length of 9ft 10ins still remains. The outer part of the passage, which has been removed, is indicated by a hollow in the ground, traceable outwards for some 24ft, but as the level of the under side of the outer lintel runs out onto the surface of the slope some 12ft 6ins from the existing building, the passage was perhaps a little more than 22ft in length when complete. It measures 2ft 8ins to 3ft in width. About 5ft from the inner end one of the lintels is placed 6ins. Lower than the others, perhaps forming a check for a door. On the left-hand side of the passage is a recess-like cavity with a lintel above. Immediately to the N of what was the apparent entrance to the earth-house are slight indications of a hut circle, oval in shape, measuring 13ft in length by 10ft in breadth, with the entrance towards the underground building. <1>

Earth house as described by RCAHMS: situated 15.0m SE of a ruined building on the E bank of Abhainn Sneosdal. The hut circle noted by RCAHMS is not identifiable with certainty.
Visited by OS (C F W) 26 April 1961.

The site was visited and briefly recorded by P Yoxon in 1986. Situated Glen Sneosdal, 5 miles north of Uig off the Heribusta road. This souterrain is situated in the remote area of Glen Sneosdal and is completely collapsed. The outline of the structure can be roughly seen to consist of a passage about 8m long and 1m wide. From what can be seen it comprises a crude dry stone walling although no height or internal layout can be observed. <2>

The site was included in an inventory of souterrains on Skye by R Miket. Some 3km south of Duntulm the landscape broadens out into an undulating valley drained to the north by the Abhainn Sneosdal. Traces of post-medieval settlement abound and due east of the larger of these dwellings, at Lachasay, a cluster of structures representing several periods occupies the eastern bank of the Abhainn Sneosdal. The most recent is the remains of house with byre and kale yard to the north, and sheep enclosure to the south. About 9m south-east of the house lies the souterrain.

The 'earth-house' was first noted by Martin Martin (1716, 154). A second, early record of the souterrain is provided by Matthew Stobie, who in the 1770s carried out a detailed land survey of the MacDonald estates. A note on the original map in the Clan Donald Centre, Armadale, records, 'At A Tytalbra [Tigh Talamhain = earth-house] the . . . of a large house below ground inhabited in times of war'.

The line of a gallery, now robbed of its lintels, is marked by a well-defined hollow between 1.5-2m in width, rising with the slope for a distance of 11m. Within this hollow, the wall-head formerly supporting the robbed lintels is visible, revealing a gallery 0.9m wide. From here the lintels remain in position, covering a passage of random rubble construction, which continues for a little over 3m before opening out into a corbelled eastern chamber 1.6m in diameter. Before reaching this chamber the interior swells slightly on its southern side, coincidental with a satellite gallery in the north wall, 0.4m in width. This gallery was traced for 1.2m, beyond which it was choked with soil. The lower levels of the corbelled chamber are filled with collapsed debris.

Today access to the souterrain is through the roof of the corbelled chamber onto a floor of collapsed debris. The lintels of the gallery where they meet the chamber are in an unusual `stepped' arrangement, before running westwards from it. Just west of the gallery termination the lintels are stepped upwards. The odd arrangement of the third lintel resting upon lintels 2 and 4 is only explicable in terms of a more even weight distribution of the backing to create an aperture, such as might allow access (or viewing) into the corbelled chamber. <3>

The dimensions of the hut circle given by RCHAMS would make this a very small example [IS-L 28/06/2024].

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 4146 7128 (19m by 19m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG47SW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	KILMUIR

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Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

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