Description

The monument comprises the major part of the remains of the pre- crofting and crofting settlement of Shiaba. The deserted township is situated on the S coast of the Ross of Mull on a terrace overlooking a number of landing places. The earliest record of the settlement is in 1779; in 1804 it was turned into crofts and it was cleared in 1847. Excellent documentation survives for the later history of the site; the settlement's history is likely to precede 1779.

The settlement comprises the well-preserved remains of a pre-crofting settlement: typical drystone houses with rounded corners; barns, associated yards, lazy beds and rig and furrow; two corn-drying kilns, one with barn (NM 44011933), the other built into a slope (NM43831851); and one, if not two, horizontal water mills. The best preserved mill (NM43741918) exhibits particularly good field characteristics and is situated in a bend on the E bank of the Allt Cnoc na Feannaige; the W bank of the stream has been reveted.

The second probable mill (NM43791878) is in a suitable position but cannot be positively identified. A small rectangular building (aligned E-W), set within a sub-rectangular enclosure, situated immediately to the N of Port na h-Eaglaise may be a small chapel. A building to the NW of the main settlement may have been the school.

The crofting settlement with its linear arrangement of stone dykes is superimposed over the pre-crofting remains. Several houses (with angular corners) survive and one is still partly roofed.

The robbed out remains of the earlier settlement are visible to the E of the upstanding remains. The area to be scheduled falls into a main area (which measures 1080m from NW to SE by 580m transversely) and a number of smaller areas, to include the main core of the settlement, additional major features and an area around in which associated remains may survive, as marked in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a very well preserved and well documented settlement which exhibits the evolution from a pre-crofting to crofting economy and contains the full range of typical field characteristics, including an especially well preserved corn kiln with barn and horizontal watermill. The monument therefore has the potential to provide information about eighteenth and nineteenth century, if not considerably earlier, rural economy and society.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM41NW 7.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland