Possible thing or assembly sites on North Uist
Thing or assembly sites are known to have been an important part of decison making in the medieval period. Sanmark has made of study of them and a summary of some of her findings can be found here.
As ever on Uist, written historical evidence is frustratingly thin. The best access is through The Hebridean Connection (hereafter THC), a book that writes down the oral tradition of the Seannachaidh of North Uist. Assemblies are referred to regularly in this book as the means of resolving disputes. Sanmark refers to the continuity of the use of a site and so it is likely that the sites referred to in THC are likely to be the sites of earlier Norse things.
The site that gets most mention is Cnoc an Uma, Griminis, although the exact location is open to debate. As an example of thie rimportance, to settle a dispute c1400, the Adminisrator of the Isles travelled there from Islay to resolve the issue. With many other mentions of this site, it is probably that this was the most important North Uist thing site at that time. Other assembly sites referred to in THC are at Carinis, Àirigh Mhic Ruairidh, Clachan na Luib and Craig Hasten.
As part of an ongoing survey of North Uist, the Canmore site 351277 on the shore of Loch Eidiadair was surveyed. The site consists of a turf bank surrounding a mound located around 50m north-east of the north shore of Loch Eiseadair in the township of Middlequarter on North Uist. The image below is taken from the north looking south. More details on this particular site can be found here.
As ever on Uist, written historical evidence is frustratingly thin. The best access is through The Hebridean Connection (hereafter THC), a book that writes down the oral tradition of the Seannachaidh of North Uist. Assemblies are referred to regularly in this book as the means of resolving disputes. Sanmark refers to the continuity of the use of a site and so it is likely that the sites referred to in THC are likely to be the sites of earlier Norse things.
The site that gets most mention is Cnoc an Uma, Griminis, although the exact location is open to debate. As an example of thie rimportance, to settle a dispute c1400, the Adminisrator of the Isles travelled there from Islay to resolve the issue. With many other mentions of this site, it is probably that this was the most important North Uist thing site at that time. Other assembly sites referred to in THC are at Carinis, Àirigh Mhic Ruairidh, Clachan na Luib and Craig Hasten.
As part of an ongoing survey of North Uist, the Canmore site 351277 on the shore of Loch Eidiadair was surveyed. The site consists of a turf bank surrounding a mound located around 50m north-east of the north shore of Loch Eiseadair in the township of Middlequarter on North Uist. The image below is taken from the north looking south. More details on this particular site can be found here.
Although classified as an enclosure in Canmore, this combination of a natural mound surrounded by a low turf bank has been noted at a number of other locations on North Uist and may represent a new class of site yet to be identified. There are significant numbers of folds and enclosures on the island that do not enclose mounds, and the logic of herding animals into one almost wholly occupied by a mound is unclear.
However, the combination of a mound almost filling an enclosure does fit with the descriptions of Norse ‘Things’ or assembly sites, and the distribution of similar sites across different late middle age terung land units supports this possibility. This page has some detials on other things sites.
Three other similar sites are:
NF 84328 73666 Gerran Mill
NF 86432 73811 Gearraidh Sìtheil
NF 71930 70176 Sidhean Tuàth (Canmore 10126 surveyed as part of the RCAHMS Landscape Survey of 2012)
Click on the site for more details.
All are relatively small mounds with the smallest being 20m in diameter and the largest 45m and the mound height varying from 3m to 7m. These sites could share a purpose with two other larger North Uist sites.
Therse plans were drawn by David Newman.
Fig A: Loch Eidiadair; Fig B: Gearraidh Sìtheil ; Fig C: Gerran Mill; Fig D: Carinis; Fig E: Sidhean Tuath
However, the combination of a mound almost filling an enclosure does fit with the descriptions of Norse ‘Things’ or assembly sites, and the distribution of similar sites across different late middle age terung land units supports this possibility. This page has some detials on other things sites.
Three other similar sites are:
NF 84328 73666 Gerran Mill
NF 86432 73811 Gearraidh Sìtheil
NF 71930 70176 Sidhean Tuàth (Canmore 10126 surveyed as part of the RCAHMS Landscape Survey of 2012)
Click on the site for more details.
All are relatively small mounds with the smallest being 20m in diameter and the largest 45m and the mound height varying from 3m to 7m. These sites could share a purpose with two other larger North Uist sites.
Therse plans were drawn by David Newman.
Fig A: Loch Eidiadair; Fig B: Gearraidh Sìtheil ; Fig C: Gerran Mill; Fig D: Carinis; Fig E: Sidhean Tuath
There are two other possible sites. The first is 30m north of Teampull na Trionaid, Carinish at NF 81583 60300, and is an elliptical platform with a wall surrounding it measuring 17m by 13m in total. Click here for more details.
The second is a bigger and more complex site at Cleit NF 85219 74721. Google Earth imagery below reveals a circle of nearly 300m diameter but with a smaller circular enclosure contained within the southern section of the larger one. The larger circle surrounds a prominent outcrop reaching 20m above sea level, the possible site of a dun, Canmore 10344. More details are here.
The second is a bigger and more complex site at Cleit NF 85219 74721. Google Earth imagery below reveals a circle of nearly 300m diameter but with a smaller circular enclosure contained within the southern section of the larger one. The larger circle surrounds a prominent outcrop reaching 20m above sea level, the possible site of a dun, Canmore 10344. More details are here.