Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Recording Your Heritage Online
Event ID 567291
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Recording Your Heritage Online
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/567291
Camas nan Geall (bay of strangers) Ardnamurchan's long history of settlement can be traced through the rich layers of material evidence scattered about this unexpectedly fertile crescent in the lee of volcanic Ben Hiant (Beinn Shianta - holy mountain). Vestigial chambered cairn, parts of chamber evident but most cairn stones looted for later buildings. To the south, two graveyards, most notable the burial ground of the Campbells of Ardslignish, 18th century, with limemortared rubble masonry enclosing, among other fragments, two fine ogee-pedimented headstones carved with cherubs' heads. One stone depicts the Crucifixion in high relief, the other, dated 1737, a Campbell coat of arms flanked by reeded pilasters. Standing stone to south-west, one face carved with Early Christian motifs: a dog between two crosses. To the south (near Ardslignish farmhouse), old burying ground, now little more than a turf-walled enclosure. On the western headland, fragments of an Iron Age promontory fort. Around the bay, the evolution of the local dwelling types that superseded creel houses is well represented. Structures surviving in ruin include the round-angled, chimneyless stone house which had cruck couples and thatch, and the post-clearance 'improved' shepherd's cottage, with gables and slated roof. Sheep fanks built of stones from abandoned dwellings symbolise 19th century changes in land use and settlement.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
