Field Visit
Date May 1987
Event ID 1082737
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1082737
This burial-ground is situated 550m sw of Ellary House, on the NW slope of a steep-sided valley which descends to the shore of Loch Caolisport 400m to the S. When visited by White about 1869, it was in an 'almost inaccessible bog' surrounded by birch-woods, and it is now enclosed by mature ornamental planting, and a conifer plantation to the SW. The site was cleared and enclosed by the proprietor of the Ellary estate in the 1870s, and an approach-track lined with quartz pebbles was formed, as well as banks to channel water into a small stream on the SE (en.1*). At least some of the carved stones identified at that time were set upright, and further investigations were made by Miss Campbell of Kilberry an dDr C J Young about 1960, when many stones were fixed upright in the positions where they had been located (en.2).
White thought that the site was 'without enclosure of any kind', but Galloway in 1875 described 'a thickly-strewn belt of stones' about 1.8m broad, defining a quadrangular area about 36m by 24m, and the existing drystone wall was probably constructed from this material soon after his visit (en.3). At the NE end, where its width narrows to about 16m, the enclosure has rounded angles, but at the W corner, which was used for a family burial-ground, the angle is square, although the adjacent wall to the SE stands on massive footings of early character. The main entrance is at the centre of the SE wall, at the head of the track, with a smaller opening in the SW wall, but it is not obvious whether these were original features.
The greater part of the enclosure contains nearly 30 cross-marked stones, almost all upright slabs or pillars, including one of outstanding size and quality. The group is remarkable for the almost total absence of ringed crosses, and probably belongs to the 7th and 8th centuries (see Introduction), but its context is very uncertain, and any buildings would at that period have been of timber. The W third of the site does not contain any early stones, although its upper part is occupied by five Fox-Tarrat family memorials ranging from 1883 to1917 in date.
The site was not indicated on an estate-map of 1831, and White in 1869 recorded a tradition of burial, but not within living memory (en.4). No dedication is associated with the site, but Cladh a' Bhile means 'burial-ground of the sacred tree' and the noun bile, 'a sacred tree', is found in several ecclesiastical place-names in Ireland (en.5).
WELL. A spring, lintelled and lined with drystone masonry, is situated on the hillside 35m SW of the SW angle of the burial-ground.
RCAHMS 1992, visited May 1987
[see RCAHMS 1992, No. 20, for a full description of the 29 carved stones]
