Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1018760
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018760
The journey to the Garvellachs can be an adventure in itself and it is important to choose settled weather. Such a remote island was the ideal choice for a small community of the early church dedicated to a contemplative life. The remains of this period comprise an unusual double-beehive cell, a grave enclosure, and a series of larger enclosures or burial grounds. There is also a church of medieval date. The double beehive cell uses the sandstone slabs of the island to full advantage to form two round chambers within walls which are about 1.5m thick. The slabs of the inner wall faces have been laid in overlapping courses to form a corbelled interior. Each chamber has a doorway from the outside and there is also a passage to provide access between the chambers. The structure has been partly restored in 1937, and it is now difficult to be certain of the original arrangements in some places; the use of mortar appears to date from the reconstruction and would certainly not have been part of the original building-method.
Situated on an elevated position 200m to the south west, there is a circular kerbed enclosure measuring about 3m in diameter with two upright slabs within the line of the kerb, one of which bears an incised cross. This kerbed setting has been traditionally identified as the burial place of Eithne, St Columba's mother.
Other features of early date include a small underground cell, a chapel and a burial-ground, in which there is a cross-marked slab of the type usually described as a grave-marker. Two further crosses are now in NMAS.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Argyll and the Western Isles’, (1985).
