Photos and the City

Tag: Hebrides

Howmore ancient chapels

A classic traffic jam when going home to my thatched cottage.

Another stunning sunset, which I couldn´t quite enjoy due to the midgets.

Howmore church

Howmore Church was built in 1858 and is only the youngest in a long list of churches and chapels in Howmore. I parked the car here and continued walking to the remains of the other ones.

View of the Crofters Hostel which was closed during my visit to Howmore.

View of the series of churches, seen from the hostel.

TEAMPULL MOR

It is hard to see where one building ends and another one starts, the wall (probably built out of stone of the chapels) also doesn´t help.

This is the Caibeal Dubhghaill, Dougall’s Chapel, measuring just 5.2m by 3.5m. More striking is the large gable containing two windows that lies to your left as you go through the gate in the wall. This was once the east gable of the Teampull Mor, also know as St Mary’s or the Large Church. (Scotland Undiscovered)

It isn´t known how old most of the buildings are, but Teampull Mor may have origins as early as the 1200s.

The remaining two chapels stood at the upper, north-east, corner of the walled area. One was demolished in 1866, but the walls of the other, the Caibeal Chlann ‘ic Ailein, Clan Ranald’s Chapel, still stand. Clan Ranald’s Chapel probably dates back to 1574. (Scotland Undiscovered)

24/08/2023
Eriskay Pony

I was in for a special treat – the Eriskay Pony Society offered a guided walk to see the ponies during the “Outer Hebrides Wildlife Festival”.

I crossed the causeway from South Uist to Eriskay and met the rest of the group in front of the Eriskay shop and up the hill we went. It was a bit boggy in places but the views were just amazing. And suddenly there they were, the wild ponies of Eriskay.

Our two guides told us about the ponies and how they were used for carrying peat and things. They are also training the young ones so they won´t get too shy.

Until the middle of the 19th Century ponies of the “Western Isles type” were found throughout the islands, where they were used as crofters ponies, undertaking everyday tasks such as bringing home peat and seaweed in basket work creels slung over their backs, pulling carts, harrowing and even taking the children to school.

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However, on the remote island of Eriskay due to difficulties with access and the extra cost implications for sustaining larger animals, other breeds were not introduced, leaving a stock of pure bred ponies which, with increasing mechanisation, had declined to around 20 animals by the early 1970s. (Eriskay Pony Society)

But today there are about 420 ponies, even though not all of them live in Eriskay.

The Eriskay Pony stands 124-138cm (12.0-13.2 hands) high. In winter a dense waterproof coat enables them to live outside in the harshest conditions. The predominant colour is grey with the occasional black or bay and no other colours normally occur. Their legs are fine, with neat feet and only a small tuft of hair at the fetlock. Foals are often born black or bay and usually turn grey as they mature, although a few individuals remain black or bay into adulthood. Eriskay Ponies are immensely strong for their size and are able to carry a light adult with ease. (The Eriskay Pony Society)

They were training two young ones so we got the opportunity to see them close up.

Setting up the baskets to transport peat and other goods. There were also some treats in there…

He felt left out and also wanted some treats.

Don´t ever try to feed the ponies (or any other wildlife), they are very used to a certain diet and won´t tolerate other food, even something like an apple might upset their stomach.

Looking out over Eriskay after we left.

23/08/2023
Cladh Hallan

Cladh Hallan is a Bronze Age settlement in South Uist and it is the only location in the UK where prehistoric mummies have been found. Cladh Hallan was probably inhabited from 2000 BC on.

Cladh Hallan’s roundhouse settlement followed a long sequence of earlier activity that started at the beginning of the Bronze Age. The deep machair sand was initially cultivated in the Beaker period around 2000 BC, with fields criss-crossed by ard-ploughing. (The Past.com)

In 2001 a team of archaeologists found the remains of what are believed to be two mummified Bronze Age bodies, buried under the floor of a Roundhouse at Cladh Hallan. One of them was a male who had died around 1600 BC and another a female who had died around 1300 BC. (Isle of South UIst)

Using the Uist Unearthed App you can even have a look at how the round houses might have looked thousands of years ago. AR will bring them back today.

Continue through the dunes and the machair and you will arrive at the most beautiful beach going on for miles.

Daliburgh beach

View towards Barra.

01/08/2023