Stones - 1

When Kilchoan's croft fields were first cleared they were full of stones. The soil, poor as most of it was, had been derived from the boulder-clay rubble brought down by glaciers, the last of which melted about 10,000 years ago, and glaciers, unlike rivers and the sea, don't sort their deposits neatly into clays, sands and boulders.

On some crofts, most of the smaller stones were collected together in piles. The photo above, of Alastair Connell's croft, gives some idea of the huge volume that had to be shifted by hand. But the larger rocks were put to a better use, firstly in building dry stone walls.

This wall, at the front of Mull View, one of Steading Holidays' letting cottages, is typical of our local walls - though, as can be clearly seen, the nearer section has had to be rebuilt. The rocks at the base of the wall, often out of sight below ground, tend to be the largest, with the bulk of the wall built of medium sized blocks, while larger stones are placed along the top. The walls defined croft boundaries, and divided the land so the fields could be put to different uses. The walls had to be at least shoulder high: the average highland sheep has little trouble in jumping anything lower.
Many of these old walls have been allowed to fall, replaced by wooden stobs and galvanised wire fencing. Maintaining walls is time-consuming, heavy, and finger-breaking work so, as the population dwindled, the walls died.

Happily, the considerable skills required to build a dry stone wall have not been lost from the village. The wall above, around one of the new houses in Ormsaigbeg, was built by Martin Ellis - though the largest rocks at its base were shifted using a JCB. Watching Martin work is a pleasure, as dry stone wall building is a true craft, with each block individually chosen and moved into its place with care.

JH