Beehive Dwellings of the Hebrides

‘This book [is] of considerable importance as a work of record. It is also a good read. Acair’s production values are of a high standard, and it is very reasonably priced.’  David Caldwell

Marc Calhoun’s new book is the story of his journeys to a hundred beehive cells from Islay and Scarba in the south, to the Flannans and Rona in the far north. With their splendid corbelled domes, beehive cell dwellings are remarkable remnants of a past way of life. They were used in Scotland from the time of the early hunter-gatherers to Celtic Christian monks, to the people of Lewis and Harris who used them for shielings into the 1800s. This photographic record documents the cells, their settings, and twenty years of difficult journeys to reach them.

Calhoun is dedicated to capturing the current conditions of the cells before they collapse- a fate that has already destroyed hundreds of these structures.

He is the author of the two-volume series Exploring the Isles of the West: Firth of Clyde to the Small Isles and Skye and Tiree to the Outer Isles.

“There has been very little written about the beehive structures of the Hebrides, and much of what has been published is in a format of academic writing that may capture the details, but often lacks the excitement and the essence of exploring these buildings in their natural landscape. This book by Marc Calhoun does both, superbly.” – Professor Frank Rennie, Stornoway Gazette, 19 August 2021

“A highly useful and amusing walking guide (with shades of Michael Palin’s writing springing to mind)”- Sarah Wilson, Uig News

284 pages