A programme of historic building recording and archaeological evaluation was required prior to the restoration of two Georgian mausoleums and the construction of a proposed gateway development at Eaglais na h-Aoidhe, Aignish, Isle of Lewis. Five trenches were excavated during the evaluation. Wind-blown sand deposits above midden deposits were encountered across the development area. The midden deposits contained animal bone, marine shell, pottery, and possible stone tools. The remains of a possible wall were encountered within Trench 2 at the east side of the development area. A historic building survey was carried out on two Georgian mausoleums located with the graveyard of Eaglais Na H-Aoidhe prior to restoration. The mausoleums were generally in good repair with some upper stone collapse visible on the east mausoleum. The west mausoleum contained three memorial plaques set within the internal walls of the mausoleum commemorating the Mackenzie family of Stornoway. The plaques provided a construction date for the mausoleum of 1823. There was evidence for a possible removed memorial plaque located with the east memorial, it was not possible to provide a date for the structure. Following the historic building survey, a watching brief was carried out during the excavation of dressed stones located on the ground around the east mausoleum to enable the restoration of the original stonework. One unknown grave marker was identified during the watching brief.
Murray et al. (Sun,) studied this question.