Land-owner.-James Alexander Stewart McKenzie, Esq. of Seaforth, is the sole land-owner of this parish. The real rent of the parish is L. 2535, 2s. 6d.
Parochial Registers.-Parochial registers have been kept in this parish only since the year 1826. There are registers of marriages and births.
Antiquities.- On the Flannel Isles called by Buchanan Insulae Sacrae, are still extant the ruins of religious houses. At Mealister and Pabay, are the remains of nunneries; and at Callernish, on the east coast of Loch Roag, there are the very entire remains of a Druidical place of worship some of the stones in which are so very large, that it is inconceivable by what means they could have been brought to the place. They all stand on end, at the distance of five and six yards from each other, and are in a rough natural state, as taken from the shore.
At Carloway, there is a Danish fort or doune, within the bounds of this parish,-with a double wall of dry stone,-the largest and the most entire I have seen anywhere in Scotland. At the base, it is very broad, and towards the top it gradually contracts. The height of the wall is computed to be about thirty feet. The fabric upon the whole is perfectly circular, and finished in a masterly style.
In the year 1831, a considerable number of small ivory sculptures resembling chessmen, and which appeared to be of great antiquity, were found in the sands at the head of the bay of Uig, and have been since transmitted to the Antiquarian Society at Edinburgh.
Modern Buildings.-In the year 1824, the manse of Uig was repaired, and a commodious new wing added to it. A new church was built in 1829, which will accommodate 1000 people; and in this region, where there is so little of what may be called architecture, I may notice that several curing houses for cod and ling were erected on the coast, in the year 1826 and in 1832, Mr and Mrs Stewart McKenzie of Seaforth erected two commodious schoolhouses and dwelling-houses for teachers in the districts of Valtos, and Callernish, for the religious and moral improvement of the people.
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