The Monks' Field - Boreray

Cladh Mhanaich, the Monks Burial Ground, is an enigmatic place. It is found on the island of Boreray, in the Sound of Harris, and is usually referred to as 'The Monks' Field'. It is a large tract of ground, dotted with a dozen or more large mounds. Aside from the mounds, any obvious signs it had been a cemetery were destroyed when the area was cultivated, long after its use as a burial ground.

Mounds on the Monks' Field 

Erskine Beveridge reported seeing a crossed marked stone here, along with two cup-marked stones. You can see a drawing of the cross-stone on the CANMORE page referenced below, but on my two visits to Boreray I was unable to find it. But I was able to find one of the cup-marked stones, which also had a deep font chiseled in it.

Cup-marked stone & font

It is odd that no excavations of the mysterious mounds has been done, as it would be interesting to know if there are any remains to be found. It was Martin Martin, writing in 1695, who reported that:

The burial place is called the Monks-Field, for all the monks that dyed in the islands north of Egg. Each grave has a stone at both ends, some of which are 3 and others 4 foot high. There are big stones without the burial place, several have little vacuities in them as if made by art; the tradition is, that these vacuities were dug for receiving the monks knees, when they prayed upon them.

Martin’s report has an interesting interpretation of the cup-marked stones - the vacuities being made to receive the knees of kneeling monks. The two 'vacuities' can be seen in the above photo (my knees fit perfectly - maybe I was a monk in a previous life).

The Monks' Field

The people of Boreray did not make use of the Monks' Field for burials. They chose a patch of holy ground on Aird a' Mhorain, a mile away on the shore of North Uist.

Cemetery at Aird a' Mhorain

Boreray is a beautiful, peaceful island; covered in short grass that makes for easy walking. It also has spectacular views over the Sound of Harris. Speaking of those views, on my first visit, several years ago, I saw an amazing sight. Far off on the western horizon was Boreray of St Kilda - I was seeing Boreray from Boreray. During my second visit, last May, the sky was hazy, and Kilda was not visible.

Boreray seen from Boreray (Hirta on left - Boreray on right)

See this CANMORE page for more on Cladh Mhanaich.

Looking to Boreray village from the Monk's Field

Islands in the Sound

Early on May 25 Hjalmar Bjorge weighed anchor and we left our calm anchorage off the island of Scarp. A course was set to the southeast, to visit two islands in the Sound of Harris. (One of my favourite books about these islands is Islands in the Sound, by Alison Johnson). The islands we hoped to visit were Pabbay and Boreray, I was not 100% certain we'd find any anchorages near those islands, as the sound is notoriously shallow. But our expert skipper, Mark Henrys, was able to find a place to drop the hook near Pabbay, and we were soon ashore. 

Pabbay

We made a tour of Baile na Cille, which had been the main settlement on Pabbay, centered around the ruin of Teampull Mhoire. The church dates to the 1500s, and replaced an earlier church dedicated to St Moluag.

Teampull Mhoire

The cross inside Teampull Mhore, with its worn arms and tilted head, is eerie, but beautiful. It is mentioned in a book about Pabbay written by Bill Lawson - The Teampull on the Isle of Pabbay (1994). In it he mentions the cross is referred to in A Song of Fear by the Pabbay bard Neil Morrison, as chrois Phapanaich (the Catholic cross). The song calls the ‘Priest’s Temple’ a fearful thing, and that its cross would frighten the very giants.

The cross that would frighten giants

In Baile Lingay, a village above the church, we found the ruin of a large grain drying kiln. Pabbay was known as the granary of Harris, but it also had a good number of its own people to support. In the nineteenth century the population exceeded 300. Most of them were evicted when the island was cleared for sheep in the 1840s. 

Kiln

Kiln in Baile Lingay

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and it was hard to leave Pabbay, but another island called; Boreray, which lay three miles away. Again, Mark was able to find a perfect anchorage in the shallow water off the south tip of Boreray, where we went ashore for a few hours of exploration.

Boreray Arrival

Boreray had a population of almost 200 in the 1840s, but by 1923 only one family remained. (Its current population is one.) Once ashore we made a circular walk around Loch Mor, which nearly divides the island in half.

Loch Mor

It was hard and slow going over the boulders that make up the large storm beach that divides Loch Mor from the sea.

Across the stone beach between Loch Mor and the sea

Loch Mor (right)

We then made our way to the main settlement site on the east side of the island, where I was saddened to see that the Boreray church, which dates to the 1880s, is in even sadder shape than when I visited in 2010. With the roof gone, it won't be long until the gables collapse.

Boreray Church - 2016

Boreray Church - 2010

South of the settlement, and above the beach where we landed, stood a large cluster of earthen mounds. They are known as Cladh na Mhanaich (The Monk's burial Ground). Per Martin Martin, writing in 1695, it is where all the monk's who worked north of Eigg were buried; a fascinating possibility, and it seems odd to me that there has never been any archaeological excavations here to determine exactly what lies inside these mysterious mounds.

Cladh na Mhanaich

Next to the Monk's Field lie the ruins of a large village, photographed by Erskine Beveridge in 1904 (second photo below).

Boreray Village - 2016

Boreray Village - 1904 (Photo: Erskine Beveridge)

Our time on Boreray was up, and we returned to Hjalmar Bjorge to spend the night. In the morning we set off east through the sound of Harris, passing Rodel and Scalpay as we made our way the 30 miles to the Shiants.

Rodel - church tower at centre

Scalpay

The sea and wind at the Shiants was from the north, which ruled out anchoring in the large bay between the islands. That was a disappointment, at it is the best place to see the hundreds of thousands of puffins that continually fly out to the Minch from their burrows on Garbh Eilean and Eilean Mhuire. And so we had to settle for an anchorage on the west side of the isthmus between Eilean Tighe and Garbh Eilean. As we anchored we watched a two-masted schooner try, and fail, to anchor on the east side.

The schooner attempting to anchor

After anchoring we loaded into the inflatable and went to see if we could get ashore. But the swell and tide were such that we could not find a safe place to land that would also be safe for an uplift later on. As we were looking for a landing I did get onto some rocks off Eilean Tighe, and managed to slowly get ashore near the house on Eilean Tighe. But it was far too slippy and unsafe, and so I was soon back aboard the inflatable. That attempt did allow me to set a record for what may be the shortest visit to the Shiants (three minutes). So we settled in for the night, hoping that conditions would calm overnight.

The next morning was calm and sunny, and so we motored around the giant basalt cliffs of garbh Eilean to drop anchor in the bay between the islands. 

Cliffs of Garbh Eilean

We were only a quarter mile from our last anchorage, on the other side of the isthmus, but what a difference it made. We were now in Puffin country, thousands soaring overhead and paddling on the sea. (See the September 21, 2013 post for a video of the puffin colony on Garbh Eilean.)

We all went ashore on Eilean Tighe to make a tour around the house (built for Compton Mackenzie) and the Iron Age farmstead above it.

Hiking up to the Iron Age farm

Iron Age farm (left)

While up on the summit of the island we saw the Hebridean Princess come into the bay. How dare they invade our private anchorage! But they stayed for only 20 minutes, time to give their passengers a brief taste of the puffins, before moving on.

The Hebridean Princess - now you see her...

Now you don't

While hiking around the island we saw quite a few rat traps, and occasionally we spotted some of the 'rat-hunters' staying on the island, as they walked around to check the traps. They had posted signs saying the Shiants are now thought to be rat-free, and we did not see any.

Hopefully...rat-free

Looking down to the isthmus between Garbh Eilean and Eilean Tighe

Under sunny skies we then raised anchor and set off for our final destination of the cruise: the Small Isles. I knew we'd have time to see Canna and Eigg, but what I did not know was that we'd set foot on all four of the Small Isles.

More Scenes from Boreray - 3 - Then and Now

Here's a Then and Now scene from Boreray. It is of the settlement next to the Monk's Field. I have not been able to find it's name, but on the RCAHMS website it's listed under An Corran, which is the place name of the sand-bar that juts out into the sound just to the east of it. The first photo was taken by Erskine Beveridge in 1904. The second one I took in 2010. Other than the outer walls there's not much left of the village. The 16 crofters who lived here asked to be evacuated, a request that was granted in 1923.

Boreray village at An Corran - 1904 (Photo: Erskine Beveridge)

Boreray village at An Corran - 2010

More Scenes from Boreray - 2

One of the many highlights of visiting the isles in the Sound of Harris are the views to be had of the many white-sand beaches in the area. Here's one such view from Boreray; it is looking east across Loch Mor to the narrow strip of land that separates it from the Sound of Harris. Two miles off in the distance you can see amazing white-sand beach of Berneray. As often happens in the Hebrides, even though gray, menacing clouds fill the sky, the sun is sneaking under them to shine on the beach.

Berneray beach (in the distance) seen from Loch Mor of Boreray

More Scenes from Boreray - 1

While we're on the subject of Boreray, here are a few more photos. The first is of the free church; constructed in the 1880s, and last used in the 1920s. Jerry Cox, the only resident of Boreray these days, told me rats often nest in the structure. I took a look inside, but did not stay long, as noisy critters of some kind were scampering around in the rotten rafters. 

   

Boreray Free Church, last used in the 1920s

The next photo is, to me anyway, a unique view: Boreray seen from Boreray. On the horizon to the left is Hirta, and to the right is Boreray of St Kilda.

Boreray of St Kilda (in the distance to the right) seen from Boreray (Sound of Harris)

Boreray and the Naked Monk

Boreray, in the Sound of Harris, is almost two islands; as it is nearly cut in two by Loch Mor. The loch is a bit brackish, as it is barely above sea level, and the only thing standing between the loch and the sea is a narrow storm-beach.

In 1885 a sluice was built through the beach and the loch was drained. With a flood gate in place, any seawater that got in could be drained at low tide. Although this effort reclaimed some 60 acres for cultivation, the sluice was eventually abandoned.  

There may have been some sort of connection between the loch and the sea before the sluice was built. Martin Martin, writing 300 years ago, had this to say of Loch Mor:

   

…a freshwater lake well stocked with eels… there is a passage under the stony ground, which is between the sea and the lake, through which it is supposed the eels come in with the spring tides; one of the inhabitants called Mack-Vanish (the Monk’s Son) had the curiosity to creep naked through this passage.

When I was on Boreray I looked for the mysterious tunnel, but there was no sign of it. That was probably a good thing, for if I'd found it I'd have been tempted to crawl through naked.  

Storm beach seen from the south

Storm beach seen from the north

Aird a' Mhorain

The hike out to Aird a' Mhorain is a classic Hebridean walk, one I have done four times now. The round trip to its end and back is about seven miles, as the narrow peninsula extends some three miles out into the Sound of Harris. To get there drive to Grenitote, the northernmost point on the North Uist ring-road, find a place to leave the car, then set out to the north.

There are several aspects to the walk that make it a must-do. First off are the two amazing beaches that cover each side of the peninsula (first and second photo), and if the tide is out you can do much of the walk on the hard-pack sand. Along the way you will enjoy unobstructed views to the many nearby islands in the Sound. 

East Beach - Aird a' Mhorain

West Beach - Aird a' Mhorain

There are also historical aspects to the walk that make it worthwhile. Near the tip of the peninsula lies Caibeal Bhororaigh, the burial ground of Boreray, an island that lies just a half mile offshore (next photo). The burial ground has only a few readable tombstones, most notably to the Macleans of Boreray. But there are over a hundred simple tombstones with no names on them. As described in chapter 14 (book 2) you will also find the beautiful Well of the Cross on the beach west of the burial ground.

Caibeal Bhororaigh on the tip of Aird a' Mhorain

Another historical aspect to the walk is to pay a visit to Udal, a ruined village at the centre of the peninsula. Lying in the sand are over 20 ruined buildings, including four wheelhouses. Udal was a major settlement in the 13th and 14th centuries. 

Udal ruins - looking towards North Uist

Udal ruins - looking towards Harris

After exploring Udal you can return to Grenitote by either walking on across the machair, or by returning to the east beach. The entire walk covers fairly level terrain, so it can be enjoyed by anyone. I'm looking forward to doing it again someday.