Stiomrabhaig

The United Kingdom Census 1851 shows that the village consisted of 16 dwellings and supported a population of 81. By 1858 there were none. Clearances had been well underway in the area during the first half of the 19th century; many of them brutal and uncaring. The residents of Stiomrabhaigh were better placed than most having leases directly with the land owner but when these expired they accepted an offer of crofts in Leumrabhagh. Lewis was relatively prosperous right up until World War I, which put an end to the herring trade with Russia and Eastern Europe, and in spite of the clearances the increasing population put pressure on land. There were numerous requests to resettle…

Today there is much of the township to be seen; its ruined buildings, lazy beds and field walls standing in splendid isolation between the moor and the sea.