Hidden Scotland
Sign in
The Kilvaxter souterrain at Kilmuir: the stone-lined entrance open in the turf beside a fenced path, with the interpretation board behind it.
Isle of Skye

Kilvaxter Souterrain

An Iron Age passage cut into a field at Kilmuir, about 17 metres of it, roofed with slabs and open to anyone who walks across from the road.

Welcome

Across a field at Kilvaxter, with a car park on the road and a few hundred metres of grass between, a slab-roofed passage runs into the ground for about seventeen metres.

It does not go straight: it curves as it goes, narrowing to three-quarters of a metre in places, so from the middle of it you can see neither end. The walls are rubble and the roof is a run of slabs nearly two metres long, wedged in place with stones jammed between their ends.

A farmer found it in the spring of 2000, when one of those slabs gave way. Roger Miket excavated it that summer for the community council, the roof was made safe, and it opened to visitors in 2006. The dig turned up four cup-marked stones, one of them reused as packing in the kerb of the yard outside, and above the Iron Age layers a platform of boulders with a small hoard of thirteenth-century coins. What souterrains were for is still argued over: storage, refuge and ritual are the usual three.

A short drive awaySkye Museum of Island LifeThatched houses kept as they were, a few minutes up the road.2 min by roadSee itSkye Museum of Island Life
Before you go

There is a car park on the Kilmuir road and the souterrain is a few hundred metres across the field from it, with boards at the site explaining what you are looking at.

You can go down into it: the entrance is lower than the passage, and there is about 1.6 metres of headroom at best, so most people go in bent forward rather than crawling. A torch is usually left at the entrance, but take your own. Wellingtons if it has rained.

Where
Kilmuir, north Trotternish. Car park on the Kilmuir road at NG 389 696.
Getting to it
A few hundred metres across the field. Boots or wellingtons after rain.
Inside
About 1.6 m of headroom at most, and lower at the entrance.
Take
A torch. One is often left there, but do not count on it.
Where it is

At Kilvaxter in Kilmuir, north Trotternish, off the Kilmuir road, with its own car park at NG 389 696.

Close byThe rest of Kilmuir and the north end of Trotternish.
  1. The Grave of Flora MacDonaldThe Grave of Flora MacDonaldThe Kilmuir churchyard above the Minch, with the tall Celtic cross.2 miles3 min by road
  2. Duntulm CastleDuntulm CastleA Macdonald ruin on the cliff at the top of the peninsula.3 miles4 min by road
  3. Rha WaterfallRha WaterfallTwo falls in a wooded gorge at Uig, a few minutes down the road.5 miles7 min by road
  4. Fairy GlenFairy GlenHillocks and lochans left by landslips above Uig, south along the coast.6 miles12 min by road
  5. The QuiraingThe QuiraingThe great landslip on the other side of the ridge.8 miles11 min by road
Directions
An e-bike beside a rocky burn.AttractionsSkye EBikes1.1 miles
Thatched stone cottages flank old farm carts and a millstone on grassAttractionsSkye Museum of Island Life1.6 miles
The granite Celtic cross over Flora MacDonald's grave in Kilmuir burial ground, with the Minch behind it.AttractionsKilmuir Cemetery1.9 miles
LinicroMonkstadt 1745Place to stay · 2.0 miles
The Needle and the cliffs of the Quiraing.AttractionsThe Needle4.1 miles over the water
A plate from the Ferry Inn's restaurant.RestaurantsThe Ferry Inn Restaurant4.8 miles
Lichen-streaked basalt cliffs above the sea at Rubha Hunish, a stack standing off the point.WalksRubha Hunish Walk4.8 miles
Open water off the north of Skye with low islands on the horizon, the view the lookout faces.AttractionsRubha Hunish4.8 miles
Cream rotary telephone mounted beside a round "Listed" plaque on wooden panellingAttractionsThe Lookout Bothy4.8 miles
Stay nearby

Places to stay near the souterrain, and when each is next free.

Monkstadt 1745
  • To stay
  • In Linicro
  • 2 miles from the souterrain
Check datesTimber-clad building with black roof and metal railings along a gravel pathThe Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse
  • Sleeps 1
  • In the Isle of Skye
  • 4 miles from the souterrain
Check datesA white cottage with blue-framed windows sits on a lawn below a grassy hill.Half of One
  • Sleeps 8
  • In the Isle of Skye
  • 9 miles from the souterrain
Free 19–21 OctDining room with tartan carpet, wine glasses set on long wooden tablesSkeabost House Hotel
  • A hotel
  • In Skeabost Bridge
  • 13 miles from the souterrain
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay on SkyeAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
Hidden Scotland, the magazine

Scotland, in print.

Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.

Get Issue 13Read it here
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.