Images

Image of Aoismheal (Oiseval) (Souterrain) by drewbhoy

The view from the entrance to the enclosure.

Image credit: drew/A

drewbhoy Aug 13, 2017

The walls on St Kilda were built to last.

Image credit: drew/A

drewbhoy Aug 13, 2017

The west side and probably more stones that were a few yards away into the wall.

Image credit: drew/A

drewbhoy Aug 13, 2017

Parts of a souterrain or a very large cist were built into a wall.

Image credit: drew/A

drewbhoy Aug 13, 2017

Articles

Aoismheal (Oiseval)

Souterrain

drewbhoy Sep 11, 2017

Our first stop, on a gloriously warm day on St Kilda, was the probable remains of a souterrain built into a wall in an enclosure. It has been also described as a subterranean feature or a cist. If a cist whoever was interred must have been huge. During the 1800’s land had been cleared for agricultural purposes so it was dug up and built into a wall. The remains of the underground feature are only a few metres from were they once had been place.

From the pier walk east and find the track which leads to the Main Street of Hirta. Once on the track heading west, the army base is nearby, go into the second enclosure. Being a dry stane dyker myself I appreciate that the one thing the later peoples were good at – building walls. The site is in the north east corner of the enclosure.

D. MacGregor in the 1960’s said this site was Neolithic which, for us, meant an excellent start to the St Kildan trek.

Visited 2/8/2017.

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