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Reference

Date 2001

Event ID 553401

Category Documentary Reference

Type Reference

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/553401

This small enclosed site (a) is dramatically situated on a rock-bound coastal terrace below steep scree-slopes overhung by sheer basalt cliffs which rise to a height of about 90m. There is no convenient boat-landing, and the normal approach is from the NE by an eroded footpath which descends the screes. Although the place-name means 'cliff (or 'scree') of the holy women', the enclosure was probably of monastic origin.

The oval enclosure measures about 37m from N to S by 31m within a massive drystone wall, up to 2m in thickness and 1.5m in height, which rises onto the slope to the N. At the centre there is a circular structure, 5m in diameter, and on the slope in the NW sector there are remains of small huts or platforms, perhaps the leaba crabhach or stone beds used by pilgrims seeking cures up to the 19th century (b). In the SE sector a D-shaped enclosure contains within a rectangular kerb a collection of rounded pebbles and loose slabs which appear to be the collapsed remains of a small hut known as 'the altar' (c). Outside the main enclosure to the W there were turf walls which channelled water through a lintelled opening in the W wall to serve a possible mill and a latrine, merging with the overflow from a well-house. The footings of a probable chapel, 6m by 4.5m and having a N doorway, are situated 11m S of the S entrance of the enclosure.

The three carved stones described below were identified during the present survey in 1993-4, among the loose stones composing 'the altar'. They are now at Canna House.

(1) Fragment of Torridonian sandstone, broken on all sides and measuring 0.25m by 0.13m and 35mm thick. The background is cut away to form a relief cross with curved armpits and a slight central depression, the shaft being flanked by rectangular panels. (RCAHMS 1995, 14; RCAHMS 1999d).

(2) Irregular fragment of a cruciform stone of Torridonian sandstone, 0.24m by 0.26m and 25mm thick. The arms are broken except for one short and round-ended side-arm, but there are slight traces of the rounded armpit of the opposite arm. At the centre of one face there is a much-worn pecked equal-armed cross, 0.13m in span.

(3) Two fragments of a rectangular slab of Torridonian sandstone. The larger fragment, which includes two worked edges, measures 0.38m by 0.27m and varies from 30mm to 40mm in thickness, the back being irregularly flaked and laminated. It bears the shallow grooves defining one side and the end of a cross-arm and part of one quadrant of its ring. The other fragment, broken on all sides and measuring only 105mm by 80mm, fits closely to the first and preserves traces of the opposite side of the cross-arm at the break-line, as well as the curve of the next quadrant of the ring. The cross-arm, which was about 85mm high, appears to have had a slight expansion at the outer angle of the defining groove (d). The ring was about 45mm wide and encloses a slight depression, but the form of the armpits is uncertain. It is possible that this was part of a recumbent graveslab, of the type found on Iona.

Footnotes:

(a) RCAHMS 1928, No.679; J G Dunbar and I Fisher 1974, 71-5; revised plan, 1994, in RCAHMS 1995, 14, and RCAHMS 1999d.

(b) J E Somerville 1899, 133-40.

(c) Ibid., fig.1 on p.134.

(d) Cf. fragment at Iona (A4(34A)).

I Fisher 2001.

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