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Mull, Coille Creag A'chait

Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Mull, Coille Creag A'chait

Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) Baliscate House; Newdale

Canmore ID 294740

Site Number NM45SE 25

NGR NM 49677 54068

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/294740

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Kilninian And Kilmore
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

A substantial sub-rectangular building within a rectangular enclosure, possibly representing the remains of a chapel and burial ground, stands on a ridge about 700m to the SSW of Baliscate House. There is a second rectangular enclosure to the south which may be related. The site stands in a forest clearing on the slopes of Coille Creag A'Chait' at a height of approximately 108m.

The building is aligned E-W, with an entrance in the N wall. It measures 8.7m in length and 6.8m in breadth over walls some 0.9m thick. The enclosure around it occupies and east-west axis, with an entrance in the east wall. It measures 18.7m by 15.7m over walls some 1.2m thick. The walls of both structures stand to a maximum height of 0.7m and appear to be of turf and stone construction.

The second enclosure is approximately square with an entrance in the south wall. It measures 12m by 12m over drystone walls some 0.9m thick, which stand to a maximum height of 0.6m.

Lying within the second enclosure there is a stone slab measuring some 0.47m by 0.36m. The slab has the appearance of a straight cut along one of its long axis. In the first enclosure there is a smaller stone with a dished appearance.

The site is shown on aerial photographs, in particular Ordanance Survey photograph OS72-080-292, which is held in the RCAHMS library.

The recollections of Hector MacKinnon, carpenter Baliscate, state that according to local tradition there was a church on the hill behind the crofts at Baliscate and a cemetery near the Tobermory Poorhouse - The Poor House stood on the south bank of the Tobermory river, some 250m north west of this site (Source Isle of Mull Museum, Tobermory, Mull)

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Information from SRP Baliscate H9ylda Marsh and Bev Langhorn), January 2008.

NM 4967 5407 Results from a resistance survey corresponded with the extant earthworks and structural remains with areas of high resistance showing the stonework. Ground Penetrating Radar survey mainly detected natural features but there is the potential of a prehistoric ground surface within the results.

Information from OASIS ID: gsbprosp1-73753.

Scheduled as 'Baliscate, chapel 655m WSW of... the remains of a small, early historic chapel and burial ground, set within a rectangular enclosure. A second square enclosure, of unknown date, lies immediately to the WSW. The remains are visible as low earthworks. The chapel and burial-ground were in use around the 7th to 8th centuries AD and the chapel was later reoccupied, probably between the 12th and 15th centuries AD. The site lies about 1km south-west of Tobermory, occupying a level terrace on NE-facing slopes overlooking the N end of the Sound of Mull. It stands at 100m above sea level and offers views north-east to the Ardnamurchan peninsula.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 19 July 2011.

Activities

Photographic Record (1 January 2008 - 1 May 2008)

Archaeological Evaluation (19 May 2009 - 21 May 2009)

NM 49677 54068 In May 2009 an evaluation was undertaken by Channel 4’s Time Team to investigate a recently

discovered early Celtic Christian chapel and possible associated cemetery in a square stone-built enclosure.

The evaluation confirmed that the site was a chapel, the first phase of timber with at least one associated burial (of a juvenile/sub-adult, c10–15 years). A radiocarbon date was obtained for the burial, of AD 610–690 cal. (UB-12555). The timber structure was replaced by a stone chapel and an associated leacht, a stone structure at the eastern end of the chapel. Similar structures have been observed on Iona and at Celtic Christian sites in Ireland. This example would once have held an upstanding stone cross. A fragment of the stone cross was recovered from the demolition material overlying the leacht and was used to date the stone phase to the 8th century or later.

The chapel was situated in a much larger monastic complex containing at least one other building; the enclosure covers an area of 1.37ha. Surrounding the chapel was the monastic vallum, a conceptual barrier separating the ecclesiastical from the secular. A hollow-way approaching the site, and its entrance through the vallum, were also identified. All of these features were observed but not excavated.

The adjacent enclosure, thought to be a possible associated cemetery, was investigated and was revealed to be a sheep enclosure or fank with a shieling for the shepherd. The fank and shieling had been constructed from stone derived from the chapel. Evidence of possible prehistoric activity was also revealed on the site, through the identification of possible ard marks and a kerbed cairn.

Archive: Wessex Archaeology (currently). Mull Museum (intended – subject to Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel)

Funder: Videotext Communications Ltd

Steve Thompson – Wessex Archaeology (on behalf of Time Team)

Ground Penetrating Radar (19 May 2009 - 21 May 2009)

Ground Penetrating Radar survey, undertaken as part of the Time Team investigations at Baliscate. mainly detected natural features but there is the potential of a prehistoric ground surface within the results.

A very small area immediately north of the chapel was surveyed with radar in order to identify any abutting structures or possible burials. Given the age of interments in this area, the detection of the latter would, in reality, only be possible if they were stone-lined or buried in solid caskets (as opposed to wood or a simple shroud).

The pattern of response across the survey area is characterised by sporadic zones of increased amplitude and areas of diminished response. These are assumed to be a facet of varying soil composition within the material used to level the site and natural features below. The low amplitude linear trends may be shallow drainage cuts running away

from the main structure toward the boundary wall.

An exploratory trench was put in to investigate the seemingly more coherent reflector which, given the depth of approximately 1.40m+, could have indicated a collapsed, stone-lined grave or other solid feature. The excavated material contained a number of large stones, suggesting an

origin for the random high amplitude responses recorded across the site. The trench bottomed out on a former ground surface at around 0.8m with dating evidence recovered suggesting this was a prehistoric level. Anomalies beyond this are therefore natural reflectors.

John Gater (GSB Porspection Ltd) May 2009. OASIS-ID: gsbprosp1-73753

Resistivity (19 May 2009 - 21 May 2009)

Results from the resistance survey, undertaken as part of the Time Team investigation at Baliscate, correspond with the extant earthworks and structural remains with areas of high resistance showing the stonework.

Resistance data were collected at 0.5m intervals along traverses spaced 0.5m apart in order to gain a higher resolution of the surveyed area. The data have also been subjected to a high pass filter in order to suppress the background geology.

Areas of high resistance correspond to the northern, western and parts of the enclosure surrounding the chapel. The southern section of the enclosure is not shown within the data, possibly indicating that this site comprised an outer bank with no stone revetting.

The chapel can be seen within the data as areas of high resistance. There is a slight difference in the data along the northern section which corresponds to the break in the earthworks.

High resistance responses correspond to the extant wall remains of the smaller square enclosure. A mound of stones has caused the response in the very south eastern limits of the data.

John Gater, GSB Prospection Ltd May 2009. OASIS-ID: gsbprosp1-73753

External Reference (19 July 2011)

Scheduled as 'Baliscate, chapel 655m WSW of... the remains of a small, early historic chapel and burial ground, set within a rectangular enclosure. A second square enclosure, of unknown date, lies immediately to the WSW. The remains are visible as low earthworks. The chapel and burial-ground were in use around the 7th to 8th centuries AD and the chapel was later reoccupied, probably between the 12th and 15th centuries AD. The site lies about 1km south-west of Tobermory, occupying a level terrace on NE-facing slopes overlooking the N end of the Sound of Mull. It stands at 100m above sea level and offers views north-east to the Ardnamurchan peninsula.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 19 July 2011.

Excavation (18 August 2012 - 1 October 2012)

NM 49695 54086 Baliscate Chapel is set on a natural terrace in a small clearing in a spruce plantation on the lower slopes of Coille Creag a’ Chait. Following the discovery of the site by Hylda Marsh and Beverley Langhorn, initial recording by the RCAHMS, and a three day excavation by the Time Team (Wessex Archaeology), Mull Museum secured funding to undertake a research and community excavation at the site. This excavation was undertaken, 18 August – 1 October 2012, and was led by Argyll Archaeology. In addition to the excavation a number of other chapel sites similar in character to that at Baliscate were visited and recorded by volunteers assisted by Argyll Archaeology.

The earliest evidence for human activity around Baliscate comprises Neolithic and Bronze Age lithics which were incorporated into early historic and medieval deposits through the extensive use of turf as a building material. In the Late Iron Age/Early Historic period a narrow slot trench was dug to support some form of organic fencing, this truncated earlier ard marks; the latter a remnant of plough cultivation. The Early Historic fencing was dismantled and the empty slot trench was backfilled with dumps of ash from turf and oak fires which may have been used in metalworking. However, latterly the material in the slot trench changed to that more typical of domestic midden. Shortly after the backfilling of the slot trench, the ground to the N was used as an Early Historic Christian cemetery. This cemetery contained adults, children and infants; the adults are likely to be brethren and the children fostered from aristocratic families for religious training. The cemetery lay within an earthen, timber and stone fronted enclosure, the monastic vallum. Metalwork continued to be made on site near to the cemetery. The cemetery was either abandoned in the late 8th century or its focus was moved to another location, which has not been identified. A rectangular leacht and two potential cross bases were probably erected in the 9th or 10th century. These stations may have been located along a processional route that circumnavigated the enclosure.

The site may have been abandoned between the 10th and 12th century In the second half of the 12th century a stone and turf, bow-ended kiln barn was built and used to dry already cleaned crops of barley and oats. The kiln comprised a stone-edged kiln bowl with a stone lined long flue and a short secondary flue. The kiln had a turf roof which caught fire when oats were being dried and collapsed on top of the crop; the kiln was never rebuilt.

In the late 13th or early 14th century a wattle and turf structure with a stone and possible wooden sill beam foundation was built adjacent to the rectangular leacht. Barley was being stored in sacks placed up against the wattle panelling when the building caught fire and collapsed. A short time after the destruction of the wattle and turf building, the ground was stripped of turf, levelled and a new stone and turf rectangular structure was built with the E end lying directly over the former wattle building. It is probable that the leacht was extended at this period. The roof of the turf and stone building was supported by squared timber posts. The structure was constructed for use as a chapel, being enclosed within a sub-rectangular bank built in a very similar manner to that employed for the chapel. However, the deposits within this building are typical of domestic occupation and there appears to be little regard for cleanness. Either the chapel went out of use as a religious building shortly after it was constructed (this might explain the domestic midden and lack of associated burials) or because the parish priest’s visits were so infrequent, it was also used for secular purposes. It is probable that the kiln barn was renovated during this period with the construction of internal stone divisions. The kiln barn appears to have been used as a domestic dwelling with the drying of grain for personal use over a fire as well as the mending of iron objects. The main phase of medieval religious and secular activity probably lasted around 100 years.

Occupation and the dumping of midden continued in the chapel into the 16th century. Around the second half of the 16th century the kiln barn was reused, perhaps for metalworking, but it appears that the turf roof caught fire very soon after its construction and collapsed into the structure. In the late 18th or early 19th century a small fire was built in the ruins of the former kiln barn, but this was only used once or twice before the site was again abandoned. In the late 18th early 19th century the chapel and the enclosure wall/bank were used as a quarry for the adjacent sheep fank. A small bothy was then built in one corner of the sheep fank. Finally, the bothy was used for Victorian picnics.

Archive: Mull Museum

Funder: LEADER, Heritage Lottery fund, Mull Museum, Forestry Commission Scotland, Mull and Iona Community Trust, Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust

Clare Ellis, Argyll Archaeology, 2013

(Source: DES)

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