hebrides-skye-small-isles-1928/02_232

Transcription

BARRA] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION -- [BRACADALE

470. Dun Borve, Borve. - On the summit of a
sand-covered hill on the east side of the road
at Borve, at an elevation of 50 feet above
sea-level, is the site of Dun Borve. Every
trace of building has either been removed or
covered with sand.

Barra lxiv. 7 June 1915.

471. Dun an t'Sleibh, Borve. - The site of
Dun an t'Sleibh is the summit of a rocky emi-
nence at the township of Borve, about 1/2 mile
east of the main road. The building has been
completely removed.

Barra lxiv. 7 June 1915.

472. Dun, Vatersay Township. - On the sum-
mit of a small hill, about 150 feet above sea-
level, some 400 yards west of the township
of Vatersay, is the site of a dun. All the
stones have been cleared away with the excep-
tion of a few of the outer foundation stones.
The building seems to have been circular with
an external diameter of 41 feet. There are
suggestions of an outer courtyard to the east.

Barra lxvi. 12 June 1915.

473. Tigh Talamhanta, Balnacraig. - The place
marked Tigh Talamhanta (site of) on the
O.S. map, about 30 yards 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," but it has
been applied to a monument nearly 1 mile
to the north-east (No. 459), which is apparently
a ruined chambered cairn. The local nomen-
clature of two other antiquities in the immediate
neighbourhood is also misleading; the ruined
chambered cairn (No. 458) 5/8 mile to the east,
is named "Dun," and the fine monument of
the same class, "Dun Bharpa" (No. 457), is
similarly termed. The last mistake is surpris-
ing, as the word "bharpa" really means a
cairn, and is used in the adjoining island of
South Uist as well as in North Uist, in Skye,
and probably in a degraded form in Lewis.

Barra lxiv. 7 June 1915.

SKYE.
PARISH OF BRACADALE.
ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES.

474. Church (Kilmoruy (Maolrubha)), Bor-
line. - At Borline on the western shore of the
inner end of Loch Eynort are two roofless
churches, the larger probably of the 18th
century and the smaller earlier. The latter
is an oblong structure, orientated 102 ½° mag.,
and measuring 26 feet 5 inches in length and
15 feet 8 inches in breadth externally. The walls,
2 feet 5 inches thick, still stand 7 feet 6 inches
high above present level of interior. The wall
head is angled to conform with the slope of the
thatch. Some 10 feet 2 inches from the floor
at the east end there is a scarcement on the
gable, the same feature appearing in the west
gable. The door, 2 feet 7 inches wide and now
4 feet high, with checks on either side and
widely splayed internally, is placed 12 feet
2 inches from the east end of the south wall,
and a window 7 feet 4 inches from the west
end measures 11 inches wide at the outside
and 2 feet 6 inches high. There are also win-
dows in the west end and northern wall, the
former 11 inches wide and 2 feet 6 inches high,
and the latter, which is placed 6 feet 3 1/2 inches
from the east end, 1 foot 3 1/2 inches wide. A
window in the east end is placed 6 feet from the
ground. The windows have jambs rounded at
corners, 7 1/2 inches deep and with a rebate
1 1/2 inches deep inside, behind which they are
widely splayed.
The later church lies a short distance to the
west.
[Note] ?Burials

FONT. - A fine font of 15th or 16th-century
date which was found in the churchyard is now
preserved in the National Museum of Anti-
quities, Edinburgh, and the circumstances of
its discovery and preservation have been fully
related in the Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., Vol. XXI.,
pp. 412-8. The bowl, of hornblendic gneiss, is
circular, and it has no drain. The exterior is
embellished with figure subjects and other
designs in high relief (Figs. 195-6-7-8-9). The
four figure subjects, representing The Cruci-
fixion, St Michael, The Virgin and Child, and
a mitred bishop, are so arranged as to divide
the bowl into four panels, two of which, one

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