Part 4

PLATE II.--Bee-Hive Houses at Uig, Lewis.

(From Plate XXXI. of Vol. VII. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)

Fig. 8. Captain Thomas selects this as "the most modern, and at the same time the last, in all probability, that will be constructed in this manner"--viz., "roofed by the horizontal or cyclopean arch, i.e., by a system of overlapping stones." "The woman who was living in it [about 1869] told us it was built for his shieling by Dr. Macaulay's grandfather, who was tacksman [leaseholder] of Linshader ... and I conclude that it was made about ninety years back."

Fig. 9. Sir Arthur Mitchell says of this compound "bee-hive" house:--"The greatest height of the living room--in its centre, that is--was scarcely 6 feet. In no part of the dairy was it possible to stand erect. The door of communication between the two rooms was so small that we could get through it only by creeping. The great thickness of the walls, 6 to 8 feet, gave this door, or passage of communication, the look of a tunnel, and made the creeping through it very real. The creeping was only a little less real in getting through the equally tunnel-like, though somewhat wider and loftier passage, which led from the open air into the first or dwelling room."

BEE-HIVE HOUSES, FIDIGIDH IOCHDRACH, UIG, LEWIS, HEBRIDES. Inhabited 1859.]

PLATE III.--Bee-Hive Houses at Uig, inhabited in 1859.

(From Plate XII. of Vol. III. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)

See p. 47, ante.

BEEHIVE-HOUSES (BOTHAN) MEABHAG, FOREST OF HARRIS.]

PLATE IV.--Bee-Hive Houses at Meabhag, Forest of Harris.

(From Plate X. of Vol. III. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)

At the date of Captain Thomas's visit (1861) a man was still living who had been born in one or other of these dwellings.

GROUND PLAN OF RUINED BOTH AT BAILE FHLODAIDH, ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ISLAND OF BENBECULA.

a. "scarcely 18 in. wide."]

PLATE V.--Ground Plan of Bee-Hive House, Island of Benbecula.

(From Plate XXXII. of Vol. VII. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)

SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MOUND DWELLING, CALLED BOTH STACSEAL, SITUATED MIDWAY BETWEEN STORNOWAY AND CARLOWAY, LEWIS, HEBRIDES.

"A hole (e), called the Farlos, is left in the apex of the roof for the escape of the smoke, and is closed with a turf or flat stone as requisite."

Height of Dome, 7 feet.

a, b. Doorways.

c. Fireplace.

d. Row of stones for seats.

e. Centre. (Distance from e to end of cells, 7 feet.)

f, g, h. Cells or bed-places.

f is "2 feet wide and 15 inches high at the inner end; is 5 feet long and 3 feet high at the mouth. The opposite cell (g) is of the same dimensions. The third cell (h) is 4 feet wide at the mouth, 5 feet long, decreasing to 2-1/2 feet wide at the head, where it is 16 inches high."

The above is given by Captain Thomas as an example of such dwellings "having oven-like bed-places around the internal area. This interesting summer house illustrates the most antique form of dormitory; but in the winter houses the floor of the bedroom was raised three or four feet above the ground." (Compare the side cells in Maes-How, Orkney.)]

PLATE VI.--Chambered Mound (Both Stacseal), near Stornoway, Lewis.

(From Plate XXXII. of Vol. VII. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)