Field Visit

Date 9 June 1914

Event ID 1103064

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1103064

RCAHMS Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles.

Cairns, Graves and Enclosures, Rudh'an Teampuill.

Among the sandhills on the neck of the Rudh' an Teampull promontory, to the north of the church An Teampull [NF99SE 6], are considerable wind-swept areas littered with shells and occasional animal bones. In places circular heaps of stone up to 12 feet in diameter and 1 foot in height resembling small cairns, as well as other settings of stone including a grave and hut circles, have been exposed. The grave measures 5 feet 2 inches in length and 1 foot 6 inches in breadth, and is formed by small slabs less than 1 foot in length and about 1 foot in height set on end nearly touching, four on one side and five on the other, with a single stone at each end. The main axis of the grave lies slightly west of north and east of south (170° mag.) and it contains a few portions of a human skeleton, two small pieces of the skull and several sections of the long bones not exceeding 6 inches in length being recognisable. Near each end of the grave was a shapeless mass of stones. A group of structures in an adjoining wind-swept area showed a circular ring of stone, 4 feet 3 inches in diameter at the top, sloping inwardly for a depth of about 1 foot, from the west-south-west edge of which two rows of small flat stones seton edge and 14 inches apart extended for a distance of 3 feet 9 inches. Some 4 feet to the south-south-east of the circular structure was a circular setting of stones like a hut circle with an internal diameter of 9 feet, and about 6 feet to the west was a similar structure 11 feet in diameter. To the north was a second circular ring of small flat stones set on edge measuring 4 feet in diameter. Nothing but clean sand was found within this structure, but in the first a dark layer about one inch thick was found about the level of the foundation of the structure. (Fig. 97.)

On the edge of a sand hill towards the east side of the peninsula is a somewhat rectangular area with rounded corners enclosed by a line of small boulders. Along the main axis which runs almost north-west and south-east it measures 34 feet, while it is 13 feet broad. A curvilinear setting of similar stones is visible round the ends of the enclosure set at a distance of 7 feet from the north-west end and10 feet from the south-east end. Outside the southern corner a layer of blackened sand indicated the position of a fire-place.

Fragments of unornamented hand–made pottery are found scattered over the greater part of the shell-covered area.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 9 June 1914

OS map: Harris xvii (unnoted).