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Field Visit
Date May 1981
Event ID 1145864
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1145864
Eithnie's Grave. This small circular enclosure, identified in 19th-century local tradition as the burial-place of St Columba's mother, (Bryce and Knight 1933; Muir 1861; Ordnance Survey Name Book) is situated 130m SW of the inner enclosure (RCAHMS 1985, A on plan), at an elevation of about 35m OD. It is placed at the edge of a scarp from which the hillside slopes steeply to SSE and ENE, and although visible from the inner enclosure, it is most conspicuous from the boat-landing and approach. It comprises a kerb of flattish slabs, about 0.8m in average thickness, enclosing a roughly circular area about 3.2m in diameter. Investigation of the kerb by the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments in 1972 showed that the structure lies on sloping bedrock, being built up on the SE or downhill side to a height of about 1m, whereas to the N and W it is almost level with the ground-surface. (information from Mr S H Cruden) The soil within the kerb, which was not excavated in 1972, was presumably imported to allow burials. At the NE edge of the enclosure are two upright slabs, side by side and 0.35m apart. That to the SE is incised with a cross on the SW face (infra, number 1), and facing it at a distance of 2.6m is a third upright slab, of slate. Reports of the discovery of female remains in this area are extremely vague (Bryce and Knight 1933) and it is not known whether the enclosure contained more than one grave. It appears to belong to a class of 'specially marked graves', which are found in Western Britain and Ireland in the Iron Age and Early Christian period.(the plan of Eithne's Grave in Thomas 1971 is incorrect in suggesting the survival of four upright slabs, and in showing the position of a grave)
Funerary Monument
Roughly rectangular slab with rounded top, of local flaggy sandstone. It measures 0.71m in visible height by 0.40m in width. On the SW face is incised an equal-armed cross whose arms terminate in small circular expansions. The line of the lower arm is continued for 40mm below the terminal by a less deeply-cut groove. (Anderson, J, Scotland in Early Christian times, 1st series (1881), fig. 34 on p.96, reproduced in ECMS, 3, fig. 421; TGAS, new series, 8 (1925-33), figs. 19a, 22).
Visited May 1981
RCAHMS 1984
