Thursday, September 11

Our focus today was the Lewis side of the Island. We started with a visit to the Callanish Standing Stones.  Here there are nineteen large standing stones at a site that is older than Stonehenge.  Including the stones still standing, about fifty were moved here between 3000 BC to 1500 BC.  Their exact function remains a mystery.  There were also two other smaller sites close by that we visited. You could see the Callanish site (on a hilltop) from the other two sites.  Further down the road we stopped to look at a large single standing stone.

Then we visited a broch tower at Dun Charlabhaigh. These fortified farmhouses were built during the first century BC.  They were built with a defensive purpose but against exactly what threat is unknown.  

Next stop was the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village.  The village of nine thatched houses was abandoned in the 1970s and then restored as a museum. One house was restored to its condition when abandoned and has a peat fireplace and box beds - all built at a slant on purpose to let moisture and water flow downhill.  On the beds are pottery bottles or "pigs" that were filled with hot water to warm the bed up at night.  Some of the buildings here can be rented for overnight stays.  

Our last stop of the day was the museum at Lews Castle in Stornoway.  The museum has six of the Lewis Chessman.  These are 12th century Viking chess pieces from modern-day Norway carved from walrus ivory and whale bone.  The Lewis Chessmen were discovered on the Island in a hoard of 93 gaming pieces from four different chess sets.  The rest of the pieces are at the British Museum or the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh.