Field Visit
Date 3 April 1928
Event ID 1099100
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1099100
St. Fillan's Cave.
The cave from which the burgh takes its name (1) has been a natural hollow in an outcrop of rock, some 80 yards north of the harbour. It is used as a store and is entered from Cove Wynd. Across the mouth of the cave there now runs a wall, in the lower part of which is a 17th-century doorway, and in the upper part a fanlight. The length of the cave is some 93 feet, divided into two by a wall which extends 33 feet 6 inches inward from the entrance. The average width is 20feet and height 10 feet. The outer part of the cave is the wider and higher. It contains a built vat or shallow tank at each side. The inner part bifurcates at the farther end. On the west side is a built staircase, which winds upward and terminates in a vaulted cellar opening into the Priory grounds. The cave is entirely a natural formation, save for the walls and stair, which are not earlier in date than the 17th century.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 3 April 1928.
(1) “Pittenweem” is for Peit na h-uam(h)a, "Share of the cave". - Watson's Celtic Place Namesof Scotland, p. 412.
