Scheduled Monument
Chapel (on site of broch), Rubh' an Teampuill, Toe HeadSM2118
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 14/08/1961
- Last Date Amended
- 25/09/1998
- Type
- Ecclesiastical: chapel; enclosure, Prehistoric domestic and defensive: broch
- Local Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Parish
- Harris
- NGR
- NF 97014 91331
- Coordinates
- 97014, 891331
Description
The monument comprises a chapel and underlying remains of earlier date, including an Iron Age broch.
The single-celled chapel, of late medieval date, measures 6.4m by 3.05m internally with walls about 0.84m thick. The masonry is of random rubble brought to courses and the walls remain to a height of 2m. Both gables are intaken. A high-level window and some corbelling at the west end suggest that there has been a gallery, while at the east end part of the altar seating, a corbel or image bracket and two small aumbries remain. The door lies towards the west end of the north wall.
The western part of the chapel partially overlies the remains of a broch, which has been reduced to its base course. Exploratory turf-stripping in September 1965 revealed that it had a rounded plan, some 16.6m in diameter with walls 3.7m thick and an entrance on the east.
Some 25m north of the chapel lie the remains of an enclosure wall of uncertain date, which cuts off the promontory on which the chapel stands.
The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, measuring up to 125m E-W by 120 N-S. It includes the chapel, the broch remains and the enclosure wall, and is defined on the W, S and E by the edges of the promontory, and on the N by a line drawn 10m N of the N side of the enclosure wall. The area is marked in red on the accompanying map extract. This is an extension of the previous scheduled area, which included only the remains of the chapel itself, and none of the underlying or surrounding features.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
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