RCAHMS: The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Rhum
Date May 1983 - June 1983
Event ID 1132606
Category Project
Type Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1132606
The records of archaeological sites included in the RCAHMS list for Rhum, published in 1983, were revised in October 2022. This task included updates to their location, classification and period, the creation of digital site-area polygons and the arrangement of site descriptions under a project heading. Revision was undertaken by Femke Vermeij, Darroch Bratt and managed by Dr George Geddes, HES.
'The items included in this list of sites and monuments range in period from prehistoric burial-cairns and forts to deserted farmsteads of comparatively recent date. The following categories have been omitted from the list: buildings eligible for listing as buildings of special architectural or historic interest; buildings in towns; roads, railways and canals; most structures of 19th-century and later date.
The earliest sites on Rhum date from the Bronze Age, and of special interest is an extensive bloodstone knapping-floor at Kinloch (no. 11). Monuments of Iron Age date are restricted to three forts, two of which (nos. 5 and 7) are new discoveries, and it is surprising that no brochs or duns appear to have been built on the island. The medieval and post-medieval periods are characterised by the townships and farmsteads, and their associated cultivation remains and shieling sites, deserted during the clearances of 1826 and 1828. In 1772 Thomas Pennant (1774) noted nine 'little hamlets' on the island, probably the same nine depicted on Langland's Map of Argyllshire in 1801, and with the exception of Kinloch, where the later castle and village have obscured any traces of earlier settlement, remains of all of these can be identified (nos. 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 30, 41, 45). Of particular interest are the well-preserved townships of Kilmory and Harris. The large number of shielings clearly represent a long period of activity, and on several sites shieling mounds have been formed by the construction of successive huts upon the same site. The shielings have been recorded in some detail by Love (1981) who identifies three types of hut (cellular, chambered and rectangular), and suggests that generally the cellular huts may be earlier and that the rectangular huts probably appear at a relatively late date.
This list has been prepared by Messrs Peter Corser, Ian Fisher, Stratford P Halliday and Jack B Stevenson, and edited by Mr Alastair Maclaren. The Survey was undertaken at the invitation of the Nature Conservancy Council, and the Commissioners would like to thank members of the Conservancy's staff, and other research workers on the island, for their help and encouragement during the course of the project, in particular Mr L Johnston, Mr John A Love, and the Hon. F Guinness. The Commissioners are also indebted to Miss Mary Harman, who assisted with the fieldwork, and to Miss Caroline R Wickham-Jones, who has reported on the bloodstone and flint objects found in the Kinloch area'.
