Cleit

A cleit is a stone storage hut or bothy, uniquely found on the isles and stacs of St Kilda; whilst many are still to be found, they are slowly falling into disrepair. There are known to be 1,260 cleitean on Hirta and a further 170 on the other St Kilda-group islands.

The outlying island of Boreray has the Cleitean MacPhàidein, a "cleit village" of three small bothies, which were used on a regular basis during fowling expeditions from Hirta. As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1727, three men and eight boys were marooned on Stac an Armin, near to Boreray, until the following May.

On St Kilda, which is treeless, the islanders used the wind passing through the cleits to preserve some of their food instead of using salt or smoking. The Cleitean were used to dry and to store a wide variety of foodstuffs. These included:

• cured fish
• bird eggs (The eggs were collected from the spring-time nests of Guillemot, Razorbill, and Fulmar birds by St Kilda men scaling the cliffs. The eggs were buried in St Kilda peat ash. )
• feathers
• fishing gear
• grains such as wheat, barley and oats,
• hay
• lamb
• manure
• peat
• potatoes
• ropes
• seabird carcasses