The cleitean of St. Kilda.

A grassy "street" leads from the store up to the houses that form the village on Hirta. It passes by the first of many cleitean (cleits) that you will discover on an exploration of the village. Indeed they are one of the most characteristic features of the topography of Hirta as you enter Village Bay by boat. These simple store structures are unique to St Kilda.


This is cleit number 1 on the map included with the really excellent booklet Buildings of St Kilda produced in 1988 by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. On the side away from the sea and the prevailing SW wind, there is a low doorway. The roof is of turf over stone slabs and the walls are of loose drystone construction which lets the wind blow through for ventilation and drying. Some cleitean near the village had wooden doors to exclude animals while other had simple stone slabs . Most were built on a slope so that the floor would drain downhill.


They were used to store dried birds and fish, preserved eggs, barley, potatoes, cut peats and turfs and ropes. There are some 1,260 cleitean on Hirta and over 170 on the other islands and Stacs in St Kilda. Martin Martin mentioned them in the first written account of St Kilda in 1697. On the side away from the prevailing winds this cleit had a wonderful cap of thrift (or sea pink) flowers.

Many cleitean are of great antiquity but interestingly we know that this one was built relatively late in St Kilda's populated history. It was not yet built in a photograph taken in 1886.

03/06/2008 am

The St Kilda gun emplacement

Just beyond the store at the edge of the village street on Hirta, you will find this 4.7" quick firing naval gun emplacement overlooking Village Bay. It seems so out of place in such a peaceful spot. There must be an interesting story behind such an incongruous finding!

After the devastation reeked on Allied Atlantic shipping in by German U boats in WW1, the Royal Navy installed a wireless signalling station on Hirta. On May 15th 1918 a U boat surfaced in Village Bay. It fired 72 shells into the radio station. The nearby store, manse and church suffered some damage but none of the village houses were it. In fact, the only casualty of the bombardment was a lamb.

In response, the Royal Navy constructed the emplacement with a sunken magazine and a QF gun from a naval gunboat. It was completed by October 1918, a month before the end of the war. It was never fired in anger.

03/06/2008 am

The feudal store of St Kilda

On making one's way up from the jetty on Hirta, the main island in the St Kilda archipelago, the first building encountered is the store. It is the first modern building on the island and was constructed sometime before 1818. The walls were built using lime mortared stone. The end walls were gabled and constructed with chimneys. The roof was of slate. At that time, the St. Kildans lived in blackhouses whose rounded walls were built from stones and turf and the roofs were made from turf or thatched with barley straw.

The substantial nature of the store was necessary as this was where the island produce of the preceding year was stored. It awaited the annual visit of the factor from the mainland. He collected the islanders' rent in kind, which was to paid to the landlord, the chief of the MacLeods of Dunvegan in Skye. Goods consisted of feathers and oil from seabirds and woven woolen cloth called tweed.

Just behind the store you can see the barrel of a large gun and further on, the wreck of the Spinningdale.

03/06/2008 am

Nightfall over Ports Ramsay and Appin.

We rounded the north end of Lismore leaving the distant lights of the Glensanda quarry far behind us on the other side of Loch Linnhe.


We now entered the maze of channels behind the islands which shelter Lismore's Port Ramsay from the sea.


On leaving Lismore the SW horizon turned blood red below an ultramarine firmament, which was punctuated by Venus.


By the time we had crossed the Lynn of Lorn it was almost completely dark and the air temperature had fallen to -5C. This brought our 2008 paddling year to a conclusion. What an incredible end to a fantastic year.

27/12/2008

Sunset behind Mull

Leaving Bernera we made good time up the north west coast of Lismore. We were keen to reach Rubha Ban, the north west point of Lismore, before sunset.


However, it was 9.5km to the point and the sun began to sink behind Bernera and the distant mountains of Mull while we were still afloat. We stopped and drifted while we photographed the magnificent sunset.


Alan and I put on a spurt to reach the headland...


...while Tony stopped off on little Eilean Loch Oscair. Whatever our viewpoint, it was a magnificent sunset behind Glas Bheinn (492m) on Mull.


This is the view that Tony saw. Remarkably there was a small flock of sheep on this tiny island. I do hope that they enjoyed each other's company, it's a long winter to be stuck on a rock!
Photo Tony Page.


We watched in silence till well after the sun had sunk below the horizon. It was nearly dark before Tony joined us at the point and we still had 5km to go back to Port Appin.

27/12/2008

Carry that weight on Lismore.

We landed on a delightful beach on Bernera. We had a second luncheon followed by a slumber in the golden sunlight as we waited for the tide to rise over the bar, which was blocking our way back homeward. Unfortunately the sun was now getting alarmingly low so we had to leave....


.... before Bernera was fully an island again. Tony and David carried the double over the still dry rocks. I, on the other hand, had to carry that weight of being expedition photographer! (With apologies to Paul McCartney)

27/12/2008

Achadun Castle, Lismore

We were soon powering up Loch Linnhe and leaving the Sound of Mull in our wakes. We decided to cut another kilometer off our trip by cutting inside the tidal island of Bernera. If the tide was not sufficiently high then it would just mean another stop to watch it rise!


The inside passage also allowed a closer look at Achadun Castle on the SW of Lismore. This was built by the MacDougalls at the end of the 13th century. It passed to the Bishops of Argyll but was abandoned by them about the middle of the 15th century. It seems to have been disused since then.

27/12/2008