32959: TIGH NAN CAILLEACHAN DUBHA, LEWIS

Summary:

NUNNERY? (Undated)
CLEARANCE SETTLEMENT (Pre Clearance – 1266 AD to 1860 AD)
Clearance settlement, possibly the site of a nunnery.

Location:

NA 9911 2407

Full description:

NA92SE 3 9911 2407.

(NA 9911 2407) Tigh nan Cailleachan Dubha (Nunnery) (NR) (site of)
OS 6’map, (1965)

The alleged site of a Dominican nunnery, dismissed by Easson as a fanciful explanation of the Gaelic name, which means ‘House of the Old Black Women’.
The ONB states that a number of chess-men were found here about 70 years ago (ie c. 1780) and that they were sold to a society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh. This is presumably a confusion with the find of chess-men from Uig Bay (NB03SW 5) and a ‘cloister for black nuns’ (NB03SW 7).
Name Book 1851; D E Easson 1957.

The name applies to the remains of a typical black house structure oriented N to S and measuring 11.2m x 4.6m internally within walls 1.3m thick.
There is still a strong local tradition regarding the site.
Visited by OS (R L) 30 June 1969.

This site is almost certainly not that of Tigh nan Cailleachan Dubha, which was more probably adjacent to the cenetery and chapel complex c. 100m to the north of the marked spot, and which is outwith the scheduled area.
The settlement is a typical mediaeval to post-mediaeval clearance village, and erosion along the edge of the machair reveals earlier, possibly late prehistoric structures, with associated non-diagnostic ceramics.
MML 19.2.99

‘The monument…comprises the remains of a medieval settlement, reputedly a nunnery. The area to be scheduled is irregular measuring a maximum of 140m N-S by 100m E-W to include the settlement and field enclosure.’
HS Scheduling Document 6 August 1993.

References:

Original Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey. Book No. 78, 87
Medieval religious houses in Scotland: with an appendix on the houses in the Isle of Man, Publisher: Longmans Green, Medieval Religious Houses in Scotland. 130

Acknowledgement:

Information provided by Western Isles Council Sites & Monuments Record, January 2006.