Lewis Leodhais

Stornoway (pop. 7,500), the only town on Lewis, dates from the 17th century when it was established by the Clan MacKenzie of Seaforth. Its natural harbor is an important center for the fishing industry. Rigs for the offshore oil industry are fabricated at Arnish Point. Regular flights link Stornoway Airport with Glasgow. Loganair run services onward to Benbecula and Barra. Buses serve the outlying villages on the island.

The mystery of the Standing Stones of Callanish has yet to be resolved. Probably the finest stone circle in Scotland, it lies about 12mi/24km west of Stornaway. The site has been dated at between 3000 and 1500 B.C. during the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. The monument consists of 47 stones arranged in a circle and also in lines radiating from the center thereby creating a Celtic cross. The northward line (268ft/82m) consists of 19 monoliths up to a height of 12ft/3.6m, the eastward line (75ft/23m) has five, the westward line (42ft/13m) four and the southward line (91ft/27.8m) five. In the center stands a 15ft/4.75m high megalith weighing about 5 tons surrounded by a ring of 13 stones (diameter 36-43ft/11-13m). The stone circle is thought to have the same function as Stonehenge in England and Carnac in Brittany: as a focal point for sun worship and to calculate the time of year. At the equinoxes, for example, the sun goes down directly behind the westward line. A burial chamber has been discovered near the central stone.

By the west coast stands Dun Carloway Broch (16mi/25.6km northwest of Stornaway). This Pictish fortified farm dates from the fourth century B.C. It stands at a height of about 164ft/50m above sea level and measures 52ft/16m in diameter. The double walls are 10ft/3m thick in places and on one side they reach a height of 33ft/10m. Several steps form a link inside the mortar-free double walls and four chambers can be made out within the inner wall.

The A858 follows the coast northwards to Shawbost Museum which documents the Lewis islanders' traditional way of life.

The term "Black House" (Gaelic = "tigh dubh") was first used ca. 1850 when the whitewashed exterior common on the mainland gained a foothold on the islands. This style contrasted sharply with the dark, dry-stone double-walled Hebridean houses roofed with thatch, where man and beast sought protection from the elements together. The Black House near Arnol dates from the mid-19th C and was inhabited until 1979. It has been faithfully restored and now serves as a tearoom and craft center.

North of Black House a group of stones arranged in an oval can be seen near Ballantrushal. These standing stones are thought to date from the third or second millennium B.C.

The black rocks at the exposed northern tip of the Hebrides Western Isles are formed from Precambrian gneiss.

The Calanais Blackhouse dates back from 1760 to 1800. A blackhouse was comprised of a long narrow building, usually with one or more additional buildings laid parallel to it and sharing a common wall. The animals lived under the same roof and in the byre area there would be earth flooring.