Cairn Dhu - Images
Lews Castle & Grounds
Lews Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Leòdhais) is a Victorian era castle located west of the town of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It was built in the years 1847-57 as a country house for Sir James Matheson who had bought the whole island a few years previously with his fortune from the Chinese Opium trade. It was designed by the Glasgow architect Charles Wilson.
In 1918, the Lewis estate including the castle was bought by industrialist Lord Leverhulme from the Matheson family. He gifted the castle to the people of Stornoway parish in 1923.
During World War II the Castle was taken over as accommodation for air and ground crew of 700 Naval Air Squadron, who operated a detachment of six Supermarine Walrus aircraft from a slipway at Cuddy Point in the Grounds. The base was referred to as HMS Mentor. It was also used for accommodation for students of Lews Castle College in the 1950s.
Today the building is owned by the local council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and is category A listed building.
The Callanish Standing stones
The Callanish Stones (or "Callanish I"), Clachan Chalanais or Tursachan Chalanais in Gaelic, are situated near the village of Callanish (Gaelic: Calanais) on the west coast of the isle of Lewis. There is a visitor centre with an exhibition, restrooms and shops nearby
The famous Lewis Chessmen!
The Lewis Chessmen (or Uig Chessmen, named after the bay where they were found) are a group of 78 chess pieces from the 12th century most of which are carved in walrus ivory, discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis. They may constitute some of the few complete medieval chess sets that have survived until today, although it is not clear if any full set as originally made can be made up from the varied pieces. They are currently owned and exhibited by the British Museum in London, which has 67 of them and the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, which has the rest.
Bosta Beach, Great Bernera
Bosta Beach is made from sparkling white shell sand. This popular beach, with a much eroded machair, has good views of the cliff bound islands of Outer Loch Roag, notably Little Bernera, Flodday, Bearsay, the Old Hill and Campay. Campay is pierced by a natural tunnel about 120 metres long. Following a period of clan warfare and alleged treason in Lewis, James V1 sent a force to capture Nial Macleod and his followers, who established a strong base on the island of Bearsay in the early 17th century. They were forced to leave the island which they had held for three years, when the Mackenzies held their relatives hostage on a tidal rock. Niall surrendered to his kinsman Rory Macleod who handed him over to the King and was executed in 1613, and Lewis thus came into the possession of the Mackenzies.
Iron Age House at Bosta Beach
It has long been known that something special lay in the dunes at Bostadh, as every now and then an artefact would be discovered on the beach.
In 1992 a severe storm dramatically altered the beach profile and this ancient village began to re-emerge from the sand. A series of rescue excavations in 1996 revealed a remarkable complex of houses surviving beneath the sand.
Due to the exposed position of the site and mobility of the sand, it was impossible to leave the structures as excavated, and they were backfilled with sand. The tops off the original walls of two of the houses can be seen.
The houses belong to a distinctive group that is found around the North and West of Scotland in the Late Iron Age or Pictish period, approximately 400- 800 AD.
A reconstruction has been built of one of the houses at Bosta. This "jelly baby" house was built using the techniques that were available at that time.
St Clements Church, Rodel, Isle of Harris
St Clement's Church (Tur Chliamainn), or the Church of Rodel as it is also known, was built from about 1520 by Alexander MacLeod of Dunvegan and Harris. It is generally thought to be the grandest medieval building anywhere in the Western Isles.
According to Dean Donald Munro in his 1549 work about the Western Isles[1], the church was built for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris, who lived in Dunvegan Castle in Skye, probably from about 1520, and is not considered the first church on the site although there is no clear evidence of an older celtic church. Munro described the church as a monastery, but as there is no evidence hinting to a monastic community, this expression is believed to refer to a minister, and with it to an important parish church. It was a Catholic church before falling into disuse shortly after its completion around 1560 as a consequence of the reformation, but the churchyard continued to be used as a MacLeod burial site. The church's decayed roof was renewed in 1784 by Captain Alexander MacLeod of Berneray, but burned down shortly after and had to be rebuilt once again in 1787. In the 19th century it was used as a cow byre before being restored by Catherine Herbert Countess of Dunmore in 1873, and in 1913, the tower was rebuilt after being damaged by a lightning stroke six years earlier. Today, the church is under the care of Historic Scotland.
'Little Callanish' Standing stones on Great Bernera also known as Calanais VIII
Callanish VIII is a unique standing stone arrangement near the bridge between Lewis and Bernera, set out in a semicircle. It is known locally as Tursachan, which means merely "Standing Stones". The ruins of Dun Barraglom broch are nearby
Dun Carloway Broch
Dun Carloway (in Scottish Gaelic Dùn Chàrlabhaigh) is a broch situated in the district of Carloway, on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It is a remarkably well preserved broch - on the east side parts of the old wall still reaches to 9 metres tall. In places there are also more modern repairs to the east wall. Dun Carloway was probably built some time in the 1st century BC, and radiocarbon dating evidence from remains found in the broch show that it was last occupied around 1300 AD. At the base the broch is around 14 to 15 metres in diameter and the walls around 3 metres thick. It has a circular plan and hollow walls and was built without mortar. It probably had wooden floors, internal partitions and a thatched roof, necessary to make it habitable, but the only remaining evidence of this are post-holes. Together with the roof, the narrow passageway presumably secured by a wooden door, were the most vulnerable points of the building, especially to fire.
Soay Sheep on St Kilda
Soay sheep, perhaps the most primitive extant form of domestic sheep, all come from the island of Soay. The origins of the Soay sheep here are uncertain. The old Scandinavian name Sauda-ey means 'Island of sheep', so they were probably present on the island of Soay in Viking times (9th and 10th centuries AD).
Until 1932, when a flock of 107 Soays were rounded up and moved onto Hirta, pure-bred Soays were only found on the island of Soay.
All Soay sheep in the world are descended from those found on the island of Soay in the St Kilda archipelago. These small sheep are one of the most primitive forms of domestic sheep in the world and have probably remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years. No one knows quite when the sheep arrived on St Kilda, but evidence suggests they came with the first human settlers around 4000 years ago. When the Norse arrived at the St Kilda archipelago in the 9th-10th centuries AD they named the island Sauda-ey - 'Island of sheep'.
Until 1932 pure-bred Soays were only found on the island of Soay, then a flock of 107 Soays were rounded up and moved onto the main island of Hirta, Today flocks of Soay sheep are found all over the world.
Today, unmanaged populations of Soays live on both Soay and Hirta where their population fluctuations have interested biologists since the 1950s.
St Kilda
St. Kilda are an amazing set of islands and a world heritage site. It's 40 miles west off the coast of the Isle of Lewis out in the atlantic, ie on the edge of the of the world.
Seal swimming in the water by Lews Castle
The Hebrides or Western isles as they are now known is a great place to watch the seals. Common seals and grey seals can be seen around the coastline of both The Isle of Lewis and The Isle of Harris. The seals are really quite entertaining and its intweresting to watch their behaviour.
You can also find a number of other aquatic creatures throughout the Island, including Whales, Dolphins and many Sea Birds.
Bragar's Whalebone Arch
Whalebone Arch Bragar, Isle of Lewis
The Whalebone Arch, in Bragar, is one of the landmarks you will see as you travel round the northern tip of the island of Lewis. The Whalebone Arch, erected by the former village postmaster Murdo Morrison, was formed from the jaw bones of a giant whale which beached itself and died in Bragar Bay after been harpooned by hunters.
The Village on Hirta, St Kilda
Hirta (Scottish Gaelic: Hiort) is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, on the western edge of Scotland. The name "Hiort" (in Scottish Gaelic) and "Hirta" (historically in English) have also been applied to the entire archipelago.
The island measures 3.4 kilometres (2.11 mi) from east to west, and 3.3 kilometres (2.05 mi) from north to south. It has an area of 6.285 square kilometres (2.427 sq mi) and about 15 km (9.3 mi) of coastline. The only real landing place is in the shelter of Village Bay on the south-east side of the island. The island also slopes gently down to the sea at Glen Bay (at the western end of the north coast), but the rocks go straight into the sea at a shallow angle and landing here is not easy if there is any swell at all. Apart from these two places, the cliffs rise sheer out of deep water. However, sea kayakers can also land for a break on a small boulder beach backed by cliffs in the north of the island, just before the north-east side where the highest summit in the island, Conachair, forms a precipice 430 m high (1,410 ft). St Kilda is probably the core of a Tertiary volcano, but, besides volcanic rocks, it contains hills of sandstone in which the stratification is distinct.
Dùn is separated from Hirta by a shallow strait about 50 m wide (55 yd). This is normally impassable but is reputed to dry out on rare occasions.
Fishing on the Isle of Lewis & Harris
Ness had a bustling fishing industry throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. There were fishing stations in several Ness villages, where six-man crews sailed out to the distant fishing grounds to catch whitefish such as ling and cod for export. The traditional method of fishing was long-lining, and the vessel typically used were the robust sgoth-Niseach (Ness type skiff).
Though Ness was not a base for the lucrative herring fisheries during the early 20th century, many local men worked on the herring boats and women were employed curing and packing herring throughout the country
The Locals
The Hebrides or Western isles as they are now known is a great place to watch the wildlife. Otters, Seals, insects and butterflies, rabbits, deer, whales, dolphins, porpoises, jellyfish, crabs, and much more - all can be seen on The Isle of Harris and The Isle of Lewis. The Western Isles provides a great focus for a huge diversity of wildlife, the unspoilt natural beauty of the islands providing a great backdrop for the manu species of wildlife that can be observed
