Scheduled Monument
Gearraidh Bhailteas (Garryvaltos),settlement 250m NNE of Milton HouseSM5902
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
- 22/02/1994
- Type
- Secular: settlement, including deserted and depopulated and townships
- Local Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Parish
- South Uist
- NGR
- NF 73512 26507
- Coordinates
- 73512, 826507
Description
The monument consists of the remains of a Medieval settlement, possibly incorporating the ruins of a church, situated on a slight knoll.
The site at Gearraidh Bhailteas is known to have been cleared by 1836. It existed as a substantial township in 1498. It may have had a church in the earlier Medieval period, although this does not appear to have survived into the 15th century. The visible remains take the form of the stone lower walls and footings of some twelve sub-rectangular buildings and three enclosures, all set on a slight rise in otherwise ill-drained ground.
The sequence is hard to determine, but appears to begin with three enclosures, then two or three long, bowed-walled houses (perhaps of Norse type), followed by a possible rectangular church and two associated buildings, then two small shieling-like buildings and finally a group of "blackhouse"-type farm buildings. A number of small structures cannot be tied into even this sequence.
The area to be scheduled is a square of side 100m, oriented N-S, to include all of the remains on the knoll and an area around in which further structures and other evidence associated with the construction, devlopment and use of the monument may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance as a document Medieval settlement which has not been obliterated by more recent buildings, and as such has the potential to provide valuable information about the origins and development of Medieval rural settlement. If the suspected ecclesiastical elements are accepted, then it also has a considerable potential to provide information about the physical attributes of structures associated with the origin of the Medieval parochial system, spanning the period from the Lordship of the Isles to the unification with Scotland.
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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