Baile na Cille

I walked across the Glen to Uig sands to visit Baile na Cille. This old burial ground has always been regarded as a sanctuary. There is a legend that it was once bare rock and that a man called Elidhean brought the soil from a nearby hill called Cnoc Elidhean. It was carried in panniers on the back of two white horses, and a wall was built to retain the soil. Under the mound is said to be a pagan temple or a dun. There certainly are the discernible ruins of a very old chapel built after the mound was created. In this burial ground are remains of the many Uig people who were interred here over the centuries.
There are ruins of two other churches nearby, too small during the Great Revival in the 1820s for the big crowds gathering here. So in 1829 a newly built church, with seating for 1000, came in use. This building is now too big for the declining congregation and at the moment considered to be sold to the community. The Manse itself has been transformed many years ago into a hotel.
At the gate to the burial ground, no longer in use, a placard lists 34 tombstones, some standing still upright, some bending with time, others tumbled over and hardly recognizable in the long grass.
The earliest stones date back to the 1820s and the latest to the beginning of the 20 century. Old and young are gathered here alike but remarkable are two tombstones covering extreme life spans.
In 1859 a stone was erected to the memory of a 7 day old girl and in 1903 a stone was dedicated to a Centenary.
While I walked between the stones the weather changed and opaque clouds were drawing in from the SW, to be replaced soon by a veil of mist. This enhanced the solemnity of the site.
Later on I followed the shoreline to Crowlista where I found bright yellow seaweed and an abundance of cockles – a delicious dinner that night.