Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Archaeology Notes

Event ID 693074

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/693074

NR38NW 1 34962 88948.

(NR 3497 8893) Priory (NR) (In Ruins)

(NR 3495 8890) Stone Cross (NR) (Sculptured)

(NR 3500 8893) Stone Cross (NR) (Remains of)

(NR 3499 8890) Grave Yard (NR)

OS 6" map (1900)

For Great Cross see NR38NW 9

For Small Cross see NR38NW 10

The remains of an Augustinian priory, said to have originated as a Celtic monastery founded by St Columba and refounded by John, Lord of the Isles (1330-87) for canons regular. There is no proof of this, but the priory first appears on record in 1353. It was secularised in 1616 when the lands were granted to the Bishop of the Isles.

The plan of the priory is unusual in that the monastic buildings lie on the N side of the church which is simple rectangle with a narthex on the W and a mortuary chapel on the S. The E side of the cloister range includes the chapter house and the N side, domestic buildings. The W side is enclosed by a massive wall still intact. The arcading of the cloister is of two different types indicating restoration, the round-headed arches being earlier than those with the angular heads. Protruding eastward from the NE side of the monastery is a small chapel of very early character, built of rubble and slightly differently oriented from the rest of the buildings. Immediately N of the chapel is an excellent example of a monastic barn and byre built in the same style as the church, and still roofed.

The remains generally exist to gable height except on the N side, which has been badly robbed. The celebrated Oronsay Cross - a late medieval disc- headed high cross bearing the Crucifixion and interlacing, stands in a stepped base close to the SW angle of the narthex. It bears an inscription to the effect that it was the cross of Prior Colin, who died in 1510.

At the E end of the church is a small mound surmounted by a broken cross consisting of a head and a shaft clamped together although they did not necessarily originally belong to the same cross. At the time of Martin's visit about 1695 there were three crosses near the church, and the Great Cross at Campbelltown is said to have stood originally at Pairc- na-Crois near Oronsay House, before its removal in the 18th century.

Sanctuary crosses associated with the priory stood in the Strand

(NR39SE 37). The present enclosure of the burial ground is obviously a contraction of the original as human remains have been found for a considerable distance outside it. Many carved slabs from the site are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS), purchased in 1899. The Priory and the high Cross are scheduled.

D E Easson 1957; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897; I B Cowan 1964; J S Richardson 1927; S Grieve 1923

The Priory, broken cross and the sculptured cross are as described. The burial ground is now disused. There are some thirty medieval grave stones on display in the byre. There is no trace of a bank or wall defining the limits of the original burial ground.

Visited by OS (BS) 3 April 1974.

People and Organisations

References