Clan Macleod: By the sixteenth century, Harris belonged to the Clan MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan, with their main religious centre at Roghadal, at the southern tip of Harris.
St Clements Church at Roghadal is a magnificent legacy of Clan MacLeod's ownership of Harris. It became the main church of the MacLeods in the early 1500s, when Alasdair Crotach MacLeod, the eighth chief of the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan rebuilt the church on a much older religious site. In 1528 he built a tomb for himself which is the finest of its kind in Scotland today. In the church too are the tombs of William, the ninth chief, and of John of Minginish. In the churchyard can be seen the grave enclosures of the main MacLeod families associated with Harris.
St Clements provided a lookout point for the eastern approaches to the Sound of Harris as did the Teampull at Northton to the western approaches. The Teampull is thought to have been rebuilt by Alasdair Crotach as well. Both these churches were built beside Iron Age forts, part of the chain of forts used to pass messages, by means of fire, in times of danger. St Clements is one of the main tourist attractions in the Western Isles, and the church is used for occasional weddings and for recitals of church music.