RCAHMS Inventory; Argyll Volume 3 - Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll

Date 1971 - 1979

Event ID 1135628

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1135628

RCAHMS Inventory Programme

We, Your Majesty's Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilisation and conditions of life of the people in Scotland from the earliest times to the year 1707, and such further Monuments and Constructions subsequent to that year as may seem in our discretion worthy of mention therein, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, humbly present to Your Majesty the following Report, being the Twenty-first Report on the work of the Commission since its first appointment.

We have to thank Your Majesty for the appointment to the Commission of Professor Leslie Alcock, M.A., F.S.A., FRSE and Mr George Jobey, DSO, MA, FSA under Your Majesty's Royal Sign Warrants of 16 July 1977 and 23 August 1979 respectively, and for the reappointment of Professor R J Cramp, Professor G Donaldson, Professor A A M Duncan and Professor K H Jackson.

We wish to record the outstanding contribution to the work of the Commission made byMr K A Steer, CBE, MA, PhD, FSA, FRSE, who retired in 1978 after forty years service, twenty-one of them as Secretary. Mr J G Dunbar, MA, FSA, was appointed to succeed Dr Steer as Secretary in July 1978.

Following our usual practice we have prepared a detailed, illustrated Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll (excluding the Early Medieval and later monuments of Iona), being the third volume of the Inventory of the former County of Argyll, which will be issued as a non-Parliamentary publication.

In the archaeological field, special mention may be made of the unexpectedly large number of alignments of standing stones that occur in northern Mull. Of particular interest, too, are the kerb-cairns of the Bronze Age; the research that led to their identification during the preparation of the Lorn volume has been extended through further excavation by our staff, which has for the first time yielded reliable evidence for the date of this type of burial monument. The area contains numerous well-preserved examples of Iron Age defensive structures, most of which have been recorded in detail for the first time. Extensive excavation at one of these, the broch of Dun Mor, Vaul, on Tiree, under the direction of Dr E W MacKie, of the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, has furnished a sequence of cultural material illustrating the contemporary conditions of life.

The most conspicuous architectural monuments of the area are the medieval stone castles, several of which, including Cairnburgh and Moy, have not hitherto been investigated and recorded in detail. In the absence of Iona, which will form the subject of a separate volume, ecclesiastical buildings make a poor showing, but the remains of what appears to have been an early monastery have been identified on Tiree, while Mull contains several small churches of the 13th century. Domestic architecture of the pre-Victorian era is represented principally by a series of lairds' houses of the 18th and early 19th centuries, together with the planned new town of Tobermory, but contemporary farming townships and shielings reflect building practices of an earlier period. There is also a considerable variety of industrial and engineering works, including medieval and later quarries, 18th-century lead-mines and two fine Stevenson lighthouses.

We wish to acknowledge the assistance accorded to us, during the preparation of this Inventory, by the owners and occupiers of ancient buildings and sites, and by parish ministers throughout the region. Our thanks are due especially to the Duke of Argyll, the late Miss A Horsman, Miss C MacLean of Ardgour, Mrs J Raven and the General Manager of the Northern Lighthouse Board, for access to, and information about, buildings, records and relics in their possession; to Mrs U V G Betts, Mr E Cregeen, MA, Mr R W Munro and Mrs J Munro, BA, PhD, and Mr G G Simpson, MA, PhD, FSA, FR HistS, for placing unpublished material at our disposal; to Mrs M McCrae and Mr I Thornber for assistance with field survey; to Mr E W MacKie, BA, PhD, FSA, for assistance in preparing the description of Dun Mor, Vaul, Tiree; to Mr J W M Bannerman, MA, PhD, for assistance with medieval inscriptions; to the Institute of Geological Sciences, and particularly to Mr G H Collins, BSc, FGS, one of its officers, for advice on geological questions; and to the staffs of the Forestry Commission, the National Library of Scotland, the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, the Ordnance Survey, the Scottish Development Department, the Scottish Record Office and Your Majesty's Stationery Office for continual and valued co-operation.

We wish to record our appreciation of the high standard of work maintained by past and present members of our executive staff, including those employed not in the preparation of Inventories but on other surveys or on archival duties for the National Monuments Record of Scotland. In the present volume the articles and the sections of the Introduction dealing with prehistoric monuments have been written by Messrs Alasdair MacLaren, MA, FSA, Gordon S Maxwell, MA, FSA, J N Graham Ritchie, MA, PhD, FSA, Jack B Stevenson, BA and Humphrey G Welfare, BA, MPhil and those dealing with medieval and later monuments by the Secretary and Messrs Ian Fisher, MA and Geoffrey Stell, BA The descriptions of the Early Christian and late medieval carved stones have been contributed by Dr Steer The architectural drawings have been produced by Messrs Sam Scott, D R Boyd, Alan J Leith and Duncan A Peet, while Messrs Ian G Scott, DA, John N Stevenson, NDD and Ian G Parker have been responsible for the drawings of prehistoric monuments and for other illustrative work. The photographs have been taken by Messrs Geoff B Quick, AIIP, ARPS, and John D Keggie, and general assistance has been given by Miss A E H Muir, Miss M Isbister and Mrs F Chalmers. The volume has been edited by Mr MacLaren assisted by Mr Fisher.

WEMYSS, Chairman

LESLIE ALCOCK

HOWARD COLVIN

ROSEMARY CRAMP

GORDON DONALDSON

J. G. DUNBAR, Secretary

JAMES DUNBAR-NASMITH

ARCHD. A. M. DUNCAN

KENNETH JACKSON

GEORGE JOBEY

Edinburgh, 14 November I979