Desk Based Assessment

Date 23 January 2017 - 25 January 2017

Event ID 1190046

Category Recording

Type Desk Based Assessment

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1190046

Lochaline Waste Water Treatment Works

NM 6709 4512 The monument consists of a free-standing late-medieval disc-headed cross, set into a socket stone, standing 50m S of the 19th-century Keil Church. The cross stands approximately 50m due E of the remains of the medieval church, and approximately 20m E of the present boundary wall of the burial ground. It faces N and S, although originally it is likely to have faced E and W, suggesting it and its socket stone have been re-erected at some time in its history. Its location out-with the burial ground is not necessarily significant, as similar crosses survive from contexts both within and out-with burial grounds.

The cross measures 2.45m high, 0.28m wide by 0.14m thick at the base of the shaft, and 0.22 m wide by 0.11m thick at the neck. The arms splay outwards in profile and their ends are keeled. The disc head on both sides is filled with plait-work surrounding a small boss, with sprays of foliage in each arm. The S face of the shaft is carved with a double scroll of foliage, terminating at the base in a pair of opposed dragons' heads. The N face bears a single scroll of foliage (springing at the base from a single dragon's head) which divides into a double scroll about two-thirds of the way up. The cross appears to be of the Iona school, and can be dated to the 14th-15th centuries. It bears a strong resemblance to 3 crosses on Islay (those at Kildalton, Keills and Finlaggan) and may even be from the same workshop. The socket stone is rectangular and itself rests on the ground. It has been suggested that the burial ground may originally have extended as far as the site of the cross, but there are no visible traces of this.

Information from L Stirling – West Coast Archaeological Services

OASIS ID: westcoas1-279261