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Field Visit
Date 11 April 1995
Event ID 635364
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/635364
(Location amended to NG 2691 0543 and classification to cross-incised stones, burial-ground, possible chapel and cave). The modern burial-ground at A'Chill lies at the foot of the W flank of a ridge of outcrop; it is said to have replaced an earlier burial-ground associated with St Columba's chapel (NG20NE 1) which was levelled in 1851 when the adjacent township (NG20NE 45) was cleared of tenants. Within the burial-ground, there are the grass-grown stone wall-footings of what may be a chapel, measuring 6.45m from ESE to WNW by 3.8m internally; the walls survive to a height of 0.9m, but they range in thickness from 0.6m along the sides to 0.9m at the ends. Five cross-incised stones, three of them pillar stones (one of which is broken in two), together with a late medieval decorated grave slab (for which, see NG20NE 1) and a fragment of a millstone, can also be found within the burial-ground. A mortuary enclosure dedicated to the MacNeill family abuts the E face of the W wall.
A narrow cave in the ridge of outcrop, its mouth visible to the S of the burial-ground, is said to have been used to store the long poles used for carrying the coffins. The cross-incised stone referred to by the OS in 1972 no longer stands against the outer face at the SW corner of the burial-ground; it has either been removed to Canna House or is one of the five within the burial-ground.
(Canna 160, 929)
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG, IF), 11 April 1995.
