A cleit is a stone storage hut or bothy, uniquely found on the isles and stacs of St Kilda; whilst many are still to be found, they are slowly falling into disrepair.[1] There are known to be 1,260 cleitean on Hirta and a further 170 on the other St Kilda-group islands.[2][1]
The outlying island of Boreray has the Cleitean MacPhàidein, a "cleit village" of three small bothies, which were used on a regular basis during fowling expeditions from Hirta.[3] As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1727, three men and eight boys were marooned on Stac an Armin, near to Boreray, until the following May.[4]
On St Kilda, which is treeless, the islanders used the wind passing through the cleits to preserve some of their food instead of using salt or smoking.[5] The Cleitean were used to dry and to store a wide variety of foodstuffs.[6] These included:[7]
- cured fish
- bird eggs (The eggs were collected from the spring-time nests of Guillemot, Razorbill, and Fulmar birds by St Kilda men scaling the cliffs. The eggs were buried in St Kilda peat ash.[8])
- feathers
- fishing gear
- grains such as wheat, barley and oats
- hay
- lamb
- manure
- peat[9]
- potatoes
- ropes
- seabird carcasses
"The wind beats down upon the walls, lifting the thatch, prefiguring a storm. Crabs, fieldmice, Horniegolachs, creeping and crawling things seek shelter in the cleits, abandoned cottages and kirk."
- ^ a b "Kilda Org". Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ St Kilda - David Quine (Colin Baxter Island Guides) 1995
- ^ Maclean (1977) page 28.
- ^ Maclean (1977) pages 48–9
- ^ St Kilda Rangers tweet 28 July 2018
- ^ "Mission to the Back of Beyond: St. Kilda - November 2002". UNESCO. 15 December 2002. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ Pierreseche. Com
- ^ The Daily Mail April 18 1930: article by Susan Rachel Ferguson
- ^ J. B. Mackenzie, Antiquities and old customs in St. Kilda 1829–43