The Morsgail Beehive Cells

I first visited the Morsgail beehive cells in the year 2000. Since then I have passed by them a dozen times.  Except for a few stretches of soggy bog, the five mile round trip walk is relatively easy. 

The first part of the walk is a level stroll along the paved track to Morsgail Lodge. After a mile a sign once directed walkers away from the track to a footbridge spanning the Morsgail River. (The sign has since disappeared, but the bridge is still there.)

From the bridge an undulating quad-bike path carries on above the eastern shore of Loch Morsgail. You can choose to follow it, or just head generally to the southwest across the moorland. When I first passed this way, 18 years ago, several standing telegraph poles dating to WWI marked part of the route. But aside from a short stump or two they have all disappeared: including seven that were harvested to build a quad-bike bridge over the Beinn na Gile stream adjacent to the beehive cells.

A little over an hour after setting out you will come to the triple beehive dwelling in a shallow valley. The stone-dome of the middle cell is intact, but the domes of its two connected cells have collapsed. 

It is a tranquil, beautiful spot. A substantial foot-bridge once crossed the stream to the south, but all that left of it is an ancient wood plank. When I visited the site a couple of months ago I was tempted to use the precarious plank to cross the stream. But it looked a bit weak, so I used the nearby telegraph-pole bridge instead.

Below is a photo that shows both the cells, and a drawing made when they were completely intact.

The drawing is from an article in the September 1938 edition of Antiquity magazine. It is interesting that the drawing was not made on-site. It is a drawing made of a model of the cells in the Pitt Rivers Museum. I wonder if the model still exists.

Next time you are on Lewis be sure to set aside a day to take a look at these amazing relics of the past. Crawl inside one and think what it would be like to live here. Would you be miserable? Probably. But comfort is relative. When intact these cells were water- and wind-proof. Even more important; with a small fire going they would have been warm and mostly midge-proof. Seventeenth century four-star accommodation, indeed.