Editing St Kilda, Scotland (section)

== Architecture ==

=== Prehistoric buildings ===
[[File:St Kilda-2.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins in Gleann Mòr]]

The oldest structures on St Kilda are the most enigmatic. Large [[sheepfold]]s lie inland from the existing village at ''An Lag Bho'n Tuath'' (English: the hollow in the north) and contain curious "boat-shaped" stone rings, or "settings". Soil samples suggest a date of 1850&nbsp;BC, but they are unique to St Kilda, and their purpose is unknown. In Gleann Mòr, (north-west of Village Bay beyond Hirta's central ridge), there are 20 "horned structures", essentially ruined buildings with a main court measuring about {{Convert|3|by|3|m|0}}, two or more smaller cells and a forecourt formed by two curved or horn-shaped walls. Again, nothing like them exists anywhere else in Europe, and their original use is unknown.<ref>Quine (2000) page 91–2.</ref><ref>It is possible they are [[Pict]]ish structures dating from 400 to 900&nbsp;AD. Fleming (2005) page 23.</ref> Also in Gleann Mòr is ''Taigh na Banaghaisgeich'', the "Amazon's House". As Martin (1703) reported, many St Kilda tales are told about this female warrior.

<blockquote>
This Amazon is famous in their traditions: her house or dairy of stone is yet extant; some of the inhabitants dwell in it all summer, though it be some hundred years old; the whole is built of stone, without any wood, lime, earth, or mortar to cement it, and is built in form of a circle pyramid-wise towards the top, having a vent in it, the fire being always in the centre of the floor; the stones are long and thin, which supplies the defect of wood; the body of this house contains not above nine persons sitting; there are three beds or low vaults that go off the side of the wall, a pillar betwixt each bed, which contains five men apiece; at the entry to one of these low vaults is a stone standing upon one end fix'd; upon this they say she ordinarily laid her helmet; there are two stones on the other side, upon which she is reported to have laid her sword: she is said to have been much addicted to hunting, and that in her time all the space betwixt this isle and that of Harries, was one continued tract of dry land.<ref name=Martin/>
</blockquote>

Similar stories of a female warrior who hunted the now-submerged land between the Outer Hebrides and St Kilda are reported from [[Harris, Outer Hebrides|Harris]].<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 27–8.</ref> The structure's forecourt is akin to the other "horned structures" in the immediate area, but like Martin's "Amazon" its original purpose is the stuff of legend rather than archaeological fact.

Much more is known of the hundreds of unique [[Cleit|''cleitean'']] that decorate the archipelago. These dome-shaped structures are constructed of flat boulders with a cap of turf on the top. This enables the wind to pass through the cavities in the wall but keeps the rain out. They were used for storing peat, nets, [[Food grain|grain]], preserved flesh and eggs, manure, and hay, and as a shelter for lambs in winter. The date of origin of this St Kildan invention is unknown, but they were in continuous use from prehistoric times until the 1930 evacuation. More than 1,200 ruined or intact ''cleitean'' remain on Hirta and a further 170 on the neighbouring islands.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 65–6.</ref><ref>Quine (2000) page 32.</ref> House no. 16 in the modern village has an early Christian stone cross built into the front wall, which may date from the 7th century.<ref>Quine (2000) page 51.</ref>

=== Medieval village ===
[[File:St Kilda village.jpg|thumb|The Village. The Head Wall surrounds the site, with Tobar Childa top left, the 19th-century Street at the centre and the new military base to the right.]]

A medieval village lay near Tobar Childa, about {{Convert|350|m}} from the shore, at the foot of the slopes of Conachair. The oldest building is an underground passage with two small annexes called ''Taigh an t-Sithiche'' (house of the faeries) which dates to between 500&nbsp;BC and 300&nbsp;AD. The St Kildans believed it was a house or hiding place, although a more recent theory suggests that it was an [[Ice house (building)|ice house]].<ref>Quine (2000) pages 52–3.</ref>

Extensive ruins of field walls and ''cleitean'' and the remnants of a [[medieval]] "house" with a beehive-shaped annexe remain. Nearby is the "Bull's House", a roofless rectangular structure in which the island's bull was kept during winter. Tobar Childa itself is supplied by two springs that lie just outside the Head Wall that was constructed around the Village to prevent sheep and cattle gaining access to the cultivated areas within its boundary.<ref name="Quine (2000) page 30.">Quine (2000) page 30.</ref> There were 25 to 30 houses altogether. Most were [[blackhouse]]s of typical Hebridean design, but some older buildings were made of corbelled stone and turfed rather than thatched. The turf was used to prevent the ingress of wind and rain, and the older "beehive" buildings resembled green hillocks rather than dwellings.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 66.</ref>

=== Post-Medieval structures ===
The Head Wall was built in 1834 when the medieval village was abandoned and a new one planned between Tobar Childa and the sea some {{convert|700|ft}} down the slope. This came about as the result of a visit by [[Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet|Sir Thomas Dyke Ackland]], one of the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] for [[Devon (UK Parliament constituency)|Devon]]. Appalled by the primitive conditions, he gave money for the building of a completely new settlement of thirty new [[blackhouse]]s. These houses were made of [[dry stone]], had thick walls, and were roofed with turf. Each typically had only one tiny window and a small opening for letting out smoke from the peat fire that burnt in the middle of the room. As a result, the interiors were blackened by soot. The cattle occupied one end of the house in winter, and once a year the straw from the floor was stripped out and spread on the ground.<ref>Steel (1988) pages 72–3.</ref>

In October 1860, several of the new dwellings were damaged by a severe gale, and repairs were sufficient only to make them suitable for use as [[byre]]s. According to [[Alasdair Alpin MacGregor|Alasdair MacGregor]]'s analysis of the settlement, the sixteen modern, zinc-roofed cottages amidst the black houses and new [[Factor (Scotland)|Factor's]] house seen in most photographs of the native islanders were constructed around 1862.<ref>MacGregor (1969) page 129.</ref>

[[File:Featherstorestkilda.jpg|thumb|left|The Feather Store, where fulmar and gannet feathers were kept, and sold to pay the rent]]
One of the more poignant ruins on Hirta is the site of "Lady Grange's House". [[Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange|Lady Grange]] had been married to the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] sympathiser [[James Erskine, Lord Grange]], for 25 years when he decided that she might have overheard too many of his treasonable plottings. He had her kidnapped and secretly confined in [[Edinburgh]] for six months. From there she was sent to the [[Monach Isles]], where she lived in isolation for two years. She was then taken to Hirta from 1734 to 1740, which she described as "a vile neasty,<!--sic--> stinking poor isle". After a failed rescue attempt, she was removed on her husband's orders to the [[Isle of Skye]], where she died. The "house" on Hirta which carries her name is a large cleit in the Village meadows.<ref>Quine (2000) page 48.</ref><ref>Steel (1988) pages 31–2.</ref><ref>Keay & Keay (1994) page 358.</ref><ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame5.htm "St Kilda: Fascinating Facts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009053305/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame5.htm |date=9 October 2008 }} National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 19 August 2007.</ref>

[[James Boswell|Boswell]] and [[Samuel Johnson|Johnson]] discussed the subject during their 1773 tour of the Hebrides. Boswell wrote: "After dinner to-day, we talked of the extraordinary fact of Lady Grange's being sent to St Kilda, and confined there for several years, without any means of relief. Dr Johnson said, if M'Leod would let it be known that he had such a place for naughty ladies, he might make it a very profitable island."<ref>{{cite web |last=Boswell |first=James |year=1785 |url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/boswell/james/b74t/ |title=Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. |access-date=6 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428010642/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/boswell/james/b74t/ |archive-date=28 April 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Notquiteheathrow.jpg|thumb|This "International Sea & Airport Lounge" is situated adjacent to the [[helipad]] and landing craft slipway.]]
In the 1860s unsuccessful attempts were made to improve the landing area by blasting rocks. A small [[jetty]] was erected in 1877, but it was washed away in a storm two years later. In 1883 representations to the [[Napier Commission]] suggested the building of a replacement, but it was 1901 before the [[Congested Districts Board (Scotland)|Congested Districts Board]] provided an engineer to enable one to be completed the following year. Nearby on the shoreline are some huge boulders which were known throughout the [[Highlands and Islands]] in the 19th century as ''Doirneagan Hirt'', Hirta's pebbles.<ref>Quine (2000) pages 29–30.</ref>

At one time, three churches stood on Hirta. Christ Church, in the site of the graveyard at the centre of the village, was in use in 1697 and was the largest, but this thatched-roof structure was too small to hold the entire population, and most of the congregation had to gather in the churchyard during services. St Brendan's Church lay over a kilometre away on the slopes of Ruival, and St Columba's at the west end of the village street, but little is left of these buildings. A new [[kirk]] and [[rectory|manse]] were erected at the east end of the village in 1830 and a [[Factor (Scotland)|Factor's]] house in 1860.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 31.</ref><ref>Quine (2000) page 37.</ref>

=== Buildings on other islands ===
[[File:Dun, St Kilda.jpg|thumb|left| [[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]] from Ruival with [[Stac Levenish]] in the background at left]]
[[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]] means "fort", and there is but a single ruined wall of a structure said to have been built in the far-distant past by the [[Fir Bolg]].<ref>Maclean (1977) page 29.</ref> The only "habitation" is ''Sean Taigh'' (old house), a natural cavern sometimes used as a shelter by the St Kildans when they were tending the sheep or catching birds.<ref>Quine (2000) page 99.</ref> Soay has a primitive hut known as ''Taigh Dugan'' (Dugan's house). This is little more than an excavated hole under a massive stone with two crude walls on the sides. The story of its creation relates to two sheep-stealing brothers from [[Isle of Lewis|Lewis]] who came to St Kilda only to cause further trouble. Dugan was exiled to Soay, where he died; the other, called Fearchar Mòr, was sent to Stac an Armin, where he found life so intolerable he cast himself into the sea.<ref>Quine (2000) pages 99 and 146.</ref>

Boreray boasts the ''Cleitean MacPhàidein'', a "cleit village" of three small bothies used on a regular basis during fowling expeditions. Here too are the ruins of ''Taigh Stallar'' (the steward's house), which was similar to the Amazon's house in Gleann Mòr although somewhat larger, and which had six bed spaces. The local tradition was that it was built by the "Man of the Rocks", who led a rebellion against the landlord's steward.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 28.</ref> It may be an example of an [[Iron Age]] [[wheelhouse (archaeology)|wheelhouse]] and the associated remains of an agricultural field system were discovered in 2011.<ref>Fleming (2005) page 58.</ref><ref>[http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/news/evidence-of-ancient-settlement-found-on-boreray "Evidence of Ancient Settlement Found on Boreray"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015234129/http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/news/evidence-of-ancient-settlement-found-on-boreray |date=15 October 2011 }}. (16 June 2011) RCHAMS. Retrieved 19 June 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13753643 "Prehistoric finds on remote St Kilda's Boreray isle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110619112728/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13753643 |date=19 June 2011 }}. (17 June 2011) BBC News. Retrieved 19 June 2011.</ref> As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1724, three men and eight boys were marooned on Boreray until the following May.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 48–9</ref> No fewer than 78 storage ''cleitean'' exist on [[Stac an Armin]] and a small [[bothy]]. A small bothy exists on the precipitous [[Stac Lee]] too, also used by fowlers.<ref>Quine (2000) pages 142 and 146.</ref>