Teampull and Tobar Chaluim Chille, church and well, Balivanich

Heritage listing

Date Added 17/11/1997 Supplementary Information Updated 11/01/2022 Type Ecclesiastical: church; well Local Authority Na h-Eileanan Siar Parish South Uist NGR NF 78216 54895 Coordinates 78216, 854895 — The monument comprises a ruined church and nearby well. The ruins of the church stand on a slight eminence in a marsh 400m SE of Balivanich. The church was rectangular in plan, measuring some 7m wide and at least 11m in length, with walls between 0.35m and 0.43m thick, built in rubble masonry. A narrow lintelled door (0.64m wide) survives in the W wall, a splayed window in the N wall and two in the S wall. However, in a secondary phase the chancel had apparently been extended eastward, giving the church an overall length of some 16.6m. The walls of the new chancel are similar to those of the nave, but only 0.66m - 0.71m thick. The E gable and returns of the N and S walls have broken away and collapsed downhill, the break apparently being on the line of the splayed windows in the N and S walls that lit the altar. Remains of other buildings, represented by grass-covered rubble ruins, survive immediately N, W and SW of the church. The well known as Tobar Chaluim Chille lies about 180m SW of the church on slightly higher ground. The well is almost obscured by a cairn, 3.65m wide and 9m high, which encroaches on it from all sides except the NW. This is formed from stones carried there as votive offerings by people who came to drink the water. The monument to be scheduled comprises two discrete areas: a circular area of ground, 100m in diameter, centred on the centre point of the church; and a second circular area of ground, 10m in diameter, centred on the well, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.