Fians, Fairies and Picts Part 5

_c. cuiltean or milk cupboards._

_d. doors._

_e. farlos or smokehole._

"One of a group of three at the garry of Aird Mhor, close to the sh.o.r.e and near the mouth of Loch Resort, Uig, Lewis. This compound _both_ has evidently been intended for two related families ... but there is no interior communication between the dwellings." (_Op. cit. p. 144._)]

PLATE IX.--_Compound "Both" situated near the above._

(From Plate XIV. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE X.

GROUND PLAN AND SECTIONAL VIEW OF SEMI-SUBTERRANEAN _BOTH_ AND UNDERGROUND GALLERY, MEAL NA H-UAMH, MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, ISLAND OF SOUTH UIST.]

PLATE X.--_"Both" and Underground Gallery at Meall na h-Uamh, Huishnish, South Uist._

(From Plate x.x.xIII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

"I have next to notice," says Captain Thomas (_op. cit._, p. 164), "that form of bo'h, Pict's house, or clochan, whichever name may be adopted by archaeologists, to which a hypogeum or subterranean gallery is attached.... [The present example] is in South Uist, about half a mile inland from Moll a Deas (South Beach); and the Moll is about one mile and a half to the south of Husinish (Husness, _i.e._, Houseness). The site of the bo'h is called Meall na [h-] Uamh, or Cave Lump [more correctly, the Mound of the Cave, or 'Weem.'] It consists of a partly excavated oval dwelling chamber (_a_), 7 feet by 14 feet on the floor; the dome roof has fallen in; there are two _cuiltean_, or niches in the wall. A low curved subterranean pa.s.sage (_b_), about 2 feet square and 20 feet in length, leads into an elongated bee-hive chamber (_c_), 13 feet by 5 feet, and 6 feet high; from thence an entrance (_d_), 2 feet by 2 feet, admits to a small circular chamber or cell (_e_), 5 feet in diameter and 5 feet high. The main pa.s.sage inclines downwards, so that the floor of the second chamber (_c_) is nearly 3 feet lower than that of the first (_a_); and that of the inner one (_e_) a foot below the second (_c_)."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XI.

GROUND PLAN OF _BOTH_ AND UNDERGROUND GALLERY, OR _TIGH LAIR_, NEAR MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, ISLAND OF SOUTH UIST.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XII.

RESTORED ELEVATION OF ANCIENT BOTH AND SECTION OF HYPOGEUM OR TIGH LAIR, ON THE LINE a, k, NEAR MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, SOUTH UIST.

"These piers were about 4 feet high, 4 feet to 6 feet long, and 1 foot to 2 feet broad; and there was a pa.s.sage of from 1 foot to 2 feet in width between the wall and them."

"On a small, flattish terrace, where the hill sloped steeply, an area had been cleared by digging away the bank, so that the wall of the house, for nearly half its circ.u.mference, was the side of the hill, faced with stone.... The hypogeum or subterranean gallery is on a level with the floor, pierced towards the hill, and is entered by a very small doorway [marked _d_ on Ground Plan, Plate XI.].... It is but 18 inches high and 2 feet broad, so that a very stout or large man could not get in." (_Op. cit._, pp. 166, 167.)]

PLATES XI. AND XII.--_"Both" and Underground Gallery at Huishnish, South Uist._

(From Plates x.x.xIV. and x.x.xV. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

"An ancient dwelling, semi-subterranean, exists at Nisibost, Harris [and is described in vol. iii. of the _Proceedings_, p. 140].... A still finer example exists near to Meall na h-Uamh, in South Uist.... The bo'h, or Pict's house, as it would be called in the Orkneys--but the name is unknown in the Long Island--that I am about to describe lies less than half a mile above the shepherd's house; but so little curiosity had that individual that he was entirely unacquainted with it; and I believe it would never have been found by us but for a little terrier (in its etymological sense, of course) of a daughter. The child was only acquainted with the two here drawn [of which the other--viz., _Uamh Sgalabhad_, is here reproduced as Plate I., frontispiece]; but there may be many more waiting the researches of the zealous antiquary." (Captain Thomas, _op. cit._, p. 165.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIII.

GROUND PLAN AND ENTRANCE OF UNDERGROUND GALLERY AT PAIBLE, TARANSAY, HARRIS.

"The drawing is from a photograph of the entrance, which is 2 feet 10 inches high and 1 foot broad. The sea flows up to it at high tides."]

PLATE XIII.--_Underground Gallery at Paible, Taransay, Harris._

(From Plate XXIX. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

Describing this earth-house, Captain Thomas says:--"The drawing is from a photograph of the entrance, which is 2 feet 10 inches high and 1 foot broad. The sea flows up to it at high tides. On crawling in, there is seen the usual guard-cell (_b_), close beside the entrance, but so small that we may be sure the sentinel, if there was one, must have been a light weight; in fact, we are almost driven to the conclusion that there were no Bantings in those days. This guard-cell is but 2 feet 5 inches high, and 3 feet in width. The gallery then turns at a right angle to the left hand. We excavated it for 22 feet.... When digging, we came upon two broken stone dishes (corn-crushers?) now in the Museum [Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]; and above the gallery were most of the bones of a small ox, placed orderly together.... Bones of the seal were common, and a few of the eagle." (_Op. cit._, p. 169.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIV.

MAES-HOW, ORKNEY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XV.

INTERIOR OF MAES-HOW, ORKNEY

(_Facing inner doorway of gallery_).

_Cell or Bed in Wall._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVI.

SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MAES-HOW.]

PLATES XIV., XV., AND XVI.--_Maes-How, Orkney._

These plates represent the "Pict's house" referred to by Captain Thomas (pp. 50-51, _ante_), with regard to which he says:--"Maes howe was for three families--grandees, no doubt; but the numbers it was intended to hold in the _beds_ may be learned by comparing them with the Amazon's House, St. Kilda."

The structure last named is described by Captain Thomas and Mr. T.S.

Muir in vol. iii. of the _Proceedings_ (pp. 225-228), where it is stated:--"The Amazon's House is of the same cla.s.s with our earliest stone buildings--belonging to the era of cromlechs, stone-circles, Picts' castles, &c.; but while in other parts of Britain the style and type have vanished for a thousand years, in the Outer Hebrides we find them (in the Bothan [_i.e._, 'boths' or 'bee-hive houses'] of Uig) continued to the present day." The following additional remarks by Captain Thomas are also of interest in this connection:--"It appears that besides the Tigh na Bhanna ghaisgach (Ty-na-Van-a-ghas-gec), or Amazon's House--and of whom all tradition, except her name, has gone--there are the remains of other submerged dwellings and hypogea.

Miss Euphemia MacCrimmon, the oldest inhabitant of that far-off island, tells that a certain Donald Macdonald and John Macqueen, on pa.s.sing a hillock, heard churning going on within. And about thirty years ago, when digging into the hillock to make the foundations of a new house, they discovered what seemed to be the fairies' residence, built of stones inside, and holes in the wall, or croops, as they call them, as in Airidh na Bhannaghaisgach."[74]

It will be noticed that the "beds" in Maes-How are on a higher level than the floor of the main chamber. "In the winter houses," observes Captain Thomas,[75] "the floor of the bed-place was raised 3 or 4 feet above the ground."

The original use of Maes-How is a matter of opinion, and some have a.s.sumed it to belong to the cla.s.s of sepulchral mounds, although there is no evidence in support of this belief. For many reasons, the opinions of Captain Thomas are endorsed by the present writer. It may be added that, prior to 1861, when the mound was opened, local tradition had declared that it was the residence of a "hog-boy," or mound-dweller.

[Footnote 74: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._ (First Series), vol. vii. p.

172.]

[Footnote 75: _Op. cit._, p. 164.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVII.

THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE, NEW GRANGE, COUNTY MEATH]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVIII.

DOORWAY OF THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIX.