Butt of Lewis at the extreme north tip of Liawis and thus the most northerly point on the ‘Long Island‘, and some 30 miles from Stornoway has its important lighthouse crowning the rocky promontory.
On the road from Barvas there are several small villages, with good hotels at Borve and Cross, but the nearest substantial habitation to the Butt is the attractive Port or Ness just down to the south east. To the south of the Butt is the tiny and oddly named village of Europie (said to be an amalgam of Norse and Gaelic) and the ancient church dedicated to the 6th century St Moluag ( the present 12th century building, also known as the Teampull Mhor, belongs to the Scottish Episcopal Church and was handsomely restored and re roofed by them.
Services are held there, but during the week visitors may obtain the key from a shop in Europie. The Prayer Book which David Living stone carried on all his travels was gifted to the church at Teampull Mhor, but it is now in safe keeping in St Peter’s Episcopal Church at Stornoway.
- Butt of Lewis Geolocation Latitude 58.5167° N Longitude -6.2667° W
- Butt of Lewis Postcode HS6
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The strange island of Luchubran, south west of the Butt, was traditionally supposed to have been inhabited by pygmies, but scientific examination showed that the small bones found there were not those of small men, as had been supposed, but of animals consumed by an early Christian anchorite.
This is just one of the many places in the Hebrides chosen in antiquity by hermits escaping from man and seeking communion with God.
