Monument record 445 - OSAVAT, NORTH TOLSTA, LEWIS

NB54NW 7 5357 4728.

There was an island with a house on it in the middle of a loch at Osavat (Allt Loch Osavat is at NB 538 478). The loch has been drained and is now cultivated but it is still liable to flood.
The ashes and bones of animals can still be seen on the 'island'.
D MacIver 1934

Mr M'Iver, shopkeeper, at Tolsta, drained a loch on his croft many years ago. The bottom was infertile except on a low mound where he found stakes stuck all round and fragments of pottery.
F O Blundell 1913.

The loch was centred at NB 5357 4729 and is now represented by a marshy hollow, with no trace of the island. The tradition of the find is still known locally.
Visited by OS (A A) 13 June 1969.

D MacIvor, 1934, Place names of Lewis and Harris, 17 (Bibliographic reference). SWE14534.

J M Coles, 1959-60a, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 300-1 (Bibliographic reference). SWE1435.