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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 654032

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/654032

ND13SE 18 1567 3035

(ND 1563 3039) Site of (NAT) Chapel & Grave Yard (NR)

OS 6" map, Caithness, 1st ed., (1871)

The chapel, according to local tradition, survived until the Reformation, and the graveyard, in part, until the 18th century when most of it was carried away by a flooding of the Burn of Houstry, during which coffins were seen to be swept down to the sea. The little that survived the flood was eradicated by cultivation. The priest's house is said to have stood on the rising ground above the junction of the Burn of Houstry with the Dunbeath Water.

Name Book 1871.

(ND 1570 3033) Chapel and Graveyard (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)

At Ballachly is the site of a chapel. From the haugh land near the river there rises a ridge some 80 to 100 yds in length, and at right angles to it there runs towards the river a wall 5ft thick and still some 8 to 10ft high. Along the level to the base of the ridge at the E are the ruins of a similar massive wall. Bishop Forbes (Craven 1886) records that he was told on his visit to Caithness in 1762 that here 'had been a small monastery called of old the Chapel or Church of Peace'.

J B Craven 1886; RCAHMS 1911.

All that remains of this site are the massive walls on the S, E and W sides of a secluded haugh at ND 1567 3037. They are of drystone construction incorporating large facing blocks, roughly coursed, with a rubble core. The S wall, which survives to a height of 3m, is 1.9m thick at base, tapering to 0.6m at the top; the other walls remain to a maximum height of 0.8m. The manner in which they surround the haugh suggests an early date, and their most likely origin appears to be as the precinct wall of an early monastery. The "priest's house" may be the building at ND 1570 3033 of which only the footings remain.

Visited by OS (N K B) 25 March 1968.

This seems to be an Early Christian monastery whose church continued in use until later medieval times. It may have been associated with St Triduana since there was, apparently, a 'Croit Trolla' nearby (Beaton 1909).

D Beaton 1909; A D S MacDonald and L R Laing 1969.

(ND 1567 3035) Monastery (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1979)

The massive walls of the supposed monastery are as described by the previous OS field surveyor and as depicted on the OS map.

Wall 'A' contains a blocked gap widening towards the wall-head. 'B', though reduced to a maximum height of 0.8m, is the same width and displays the same boulder base footings as 'A', and the amount of tumble around it suggests that it could have been the same height. It is possible that these two walls, together with natural knoll 'E', were originally joined to enclose the haugh; a wall along the W side could have been destroyed by flash-flooding of the Dunbeath Water and the Houstry Burn, and that along the N side by the development of a hollow-way. There is no no trace of such walls and no evidence of structures within the postulated enclosure, now under permanent pasture. On the level summit of knoll 'E', the building footings suggested by OS field surveyor (N K B), to be the remains of a "priese's house" are indistinguishable from the ruins of a typical croft, and the associated walls are narrow and of different character to walls A and B. However, the position is unusual for a croft, there being no easy access up the very steep slopes of the knoll. To the E and SE of the alleged monastery is further walling ('C' and 'D') which may be contemporary. 'C' is 0.8m in maximum height and the width is 1.8m at the massive base-footings. Wall 'D' is less strong and, connecting two low cliffs, effectively encloses, with the river, an area of secluded haughland S of the supposed monastery.

The evidence for a monastery at this site is very slender, based apparently on two factors: (i) the tradition of a pre-Reformation chapel and graveyard, and (ii) the survival of what has been considered to be a precinct wall. The latter, exemplified by wall 'A', resembles a precinct wall of a formal early medieval monastery in terms of height only; a wall of dry stone construction, battered and 3.0 m high is unknown at other monastic establishments in northern Scotland, and it would be remarkable that a wall of such height could survive from the Early Christian era. The site has poor defensive capability, and the secluded nature of the assumed enclosed area is more akin to a monastic settlement than a fortification. It is possible that the walls were built merely at the whim of a local eccentric for no important purpose, and this may explain their uniqueness.

Visited by OS (N K B) 15 December 1982.

It is possible that this could be the site of the 'hospital' at which the English envoys were accommodated on the night of 3rd October 1290, on their way north to attend the reception of the Maid of Norway (see ND13SE 54).

B E Crawford 1982.

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