Field Visit
Date April 1988
Event ID 1082837
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1082837
This burial-ground is situated about l00m from the shore of a bay on the E side of Loch Gair. It comprises an oval enclosure measuring 44m from E to W by 25m, within a lime-mortared wall of 19th-century type, having iron gates to the N. The site originally formed a platform of smaller dimensions, and there is a short slope down to the wall all round, but there is no evidence of an earlier boundary. A small stream runs a short distance N of the site, but there is no evidence of a reported well, and the local drainage has been much altered by forestry operations (en.1).
At the centre of the burial-ground there is an enclosure measuring 4.1m by 4.3m within a wall, mainly of drystone rubble, 0.6m thick and l.3m high; the doorway is at the E end of the S wall. There are no visible monuments, and it is not known which family had the enclosure erected. This structure may occupy the site of the 'chapel of Kilbryde at Lochgersyde', which was recorded in 1617 (en.2).
ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT. Re-used as a headstone there is a schist slab, 1.42m by 0.44m by 0.l3m in thickness, damaged at one edge. Extending along its length, 70mm from one edge, there is an untapered 'shaft' 0.l8m wide and 60mm in relief, which returns 0.l2m from one end of the slab; at the other end there is a splayed return on the other side. Although this has been interpreted as a cross-slab (en.3) the tooling suggests a late medieval or later date, and the fragment was probably a door-lintel, since it lacks the wear associated with a threshold. This may have come from the old castle at Lochgair (No. 136), or from an earlier building within the enclosure.
FUNERARY MONUMENTS. The burial-ground contains many rough grave markers. Except for the two monuments described below, most of the existing headstones are of late 18th- or 19th-century date.
(1) Sandstone headstone having a shaped top with scrolls at the outer angles. Below the initials WP there is an inscription to Iohn Paterson, 'gardinar', who died in 1722 aged 45. On the back, below the initials IPG, there are emblems of mortality and tools including a saw, shears and crossed ?pruning-hooks. John Paterson, gardener at Lochgair, supplied artichokes for Inveraray Castle in 1721 (en.4).
(2) Recumbent slab bearing the initials IBEMA and the date 1730.
RCAHMS 1992, visited April 1988
