Monument record MHG54045 - Structures, Earlish Township, Skye

Two roofed buildings and an enclosure are shown here on Ordnance Survey 1st edition mapping. <1>

Four structures, shown on modern OS mapping were recorded here, to comply with a condition on planning permission. They are described as building, but 'Building C' probably represents an enclosure.

Building A: Length 10.9m Width 5.7m Thickness of wall top 0.8m. Thickness of wall base 1.2m. Greatest interior wall height 1.1m. Constructed in the main of relatively small angular stones. Some rounded material also. Size and outline suggest the remains of a blackhouse. The north-eastern corner of the building is completely missing and a lack of fallen stone close by suggests that material has been robbed out and removed elsewhere. There is a doorway in the southern wall, which measures 0.9m in width.

Building B: Length 8.6m Width 5.1m Thickness of wall top 0.8m. Thickness of wall base 0.9m. Greatest interior wall height 1.4m. Doorway central to north wall 0.9m wide. Some collapse to north wall, otherwise reasonably intact. Constructed of mainly smallish stones. Rounded stone more evident than in Building A.

Building C: Low wall much overgrown with vegetation, roughly rectangular in outline and intersecting with the north wall of Building A at the south- western corner, and enclosing an area approximately 90sqr m. The wall does not meet the north-eastern corner of Building A, thereby allowing access to the enclosed area. This was probably the stack yard.

Building D: Although marked clearly on the OS map, and a faint outline discernible on the aerial photograph, there is little evidence of it on the ground, apart from a few stones which lie on the surface. The few clues available suggest a building measuring approximately 4.5 X 4.0 metres. <2>