Barvas

Barvas (Scottish Gaelic: Barabhas or Barbhas, ) is a settlement, community and civil parish on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. It developed around a road junction. The A857 and A858 meet at the southern end of Barvas. North is the road to Ness; west takes the traveller to Carloway and the West Side; south runs the road to Stornoway. According to the 2011 Census it still had the highest concentration of Scottish Gaelic speakers in Scotland (64% of the population) with 2,037. This fell to 55% in 2022.

== Prehistory and Archaeology == Investigations since 1978 have found archaeological sites in the area that date from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Modern. Notable discoveries and projects: In 1986–7, there was the excavation of a small Bronze Age cemetery, which was inserted into the remains of an earlier Bronze Age building. In 1993, Richard Langhorne, curator of Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway, carried out an emergency excavation of a burial, dated to the late Iron Age. In the early summer of 1996, GUARD Archaeology excavated a further burial at Rudh a’Bhiogair, again en emergency excavation. Detailed surveys in both 1978 and 1999. Community excavations between 2000 and 2001 as part of the Barabhas Machair project - found a group of Iron Age ritual structures, including a long cist burial. 2001–13 Mark Elliott, conservator at Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway, with help from friends and family, carried out walkover surveys.