Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The whole structure of the chapel was surrounded by what appeared to have been an
oldturf-grownstonedyke.Thediameteroftheenclosuremeasuredapproximately40ft.
Thisdykeimpingeduponthebuildingatitswestend,cameclosetoboththechapeland
the edge of the cliff on the south and east sides and was furthest from it on the north-
west side.
Oncehehadfinishedhisworkofmeasuringanddigging,DrMackenziebelievedthat
the character of the whole structure had, for the first time, been revealed by the excava-
tions. Dr MacKenzie had also travelled to Eilean Mor on the Flannan Isles in 1896 and
he felt that the roofs of the chambers and the passage between them and the pigmies
chapel (which had gone by the time of his visit), were probably similar to those of the
stone buildings he had seen on Eilean Mor. The buildings on Eilean Mor consisted of
large slabs of stone forming a beehive dome, with a circular hole at or near the apex,
while the passages were lintelled over with flat slabs. There was a possibility that turf
was used to cover the structure for security and concealment.
W.C. MacKenzie felt that the structure his cousin and brother had unearthed was
unique, although some of the general primitive structures found in the Hebrides could
belooselyclassifiedwithit.Whatsetitapartfromanythingelse,hefelt,wastheoblong
chamber being used as a kirk or chapel. He felt it was too small to be used for this pur-
pose, although it was possible it could have been used as the oratory of a hermit who
made the circular chamber his dwelling. Neither did he believe that one chamber had
been added to the other, surmising that the dwelling as it stood was clearly the origin-
al design. Dr MacKenzie stated that the chapel on Eilean Mor had a similar plan and
that it stood apart from the beehive buildings there - its wall structure was the same,
but its dimensions were slightly smaller than the pigmies chapel on the Butt of Lewis.
W.C. Mackenzie had given what might seem to be a rather lengthy and over-elaborate
description of the pigmies chapel. He also attempted to distance himself somewhat by
sayinginhisarticle aboutthechapel: 'Itwillberemembered thatDeanMonrodeclared
it was the handiwork of the pigmies themselves.'
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However, there is little doubt that he was delighted they had found the chapel, and
whetherornotithadoriginallybeenbuiltbythepigmies,WilliamCookMackenziehad
proved to the wider world that such a chapel actually existed, even if no pigmy bones
had been unearthed.
One of the local pieces of folklore concerns an outlaw by the name of St Frangus.
Quite how he achieves the status of an outlaw and that of a saint at the same time is
unexplained. Saint Frangus was said to live at Ness on the sands of Lionel. The tale
concerns St Frangus and the pigmies of Luchruban and is believed to have been passed
down by word of mouth, with one of the oldest residents of Ness relating the tale. Ap-
parently St Frangus did not get on with the pigmies and was unkind to them. In what
