Archaeology Notes

Event ID 663383

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/663383

NH76NE 1 7913 6508 and 7923 6502.

(NH 7913 6508) St Bennet's Chapel (NR) (Site of), (NH 7923 6502) St Bennet's Well (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

Nothing is known of this chapel. Pullan suggests that the dedication is to St Benedict of Nursia (480 - 543) but the situation of the chapel, on a cliff beside the sea, is more suggestive of a Celtic foundation.

St Bennet's Well is a rag-well at which offerings were still being left in 1935.

L Pulan 1927; M D Hiley 1935.

There is no trace and no local knowledge of St Bennet's Chapel. St Bennet's Well, a natural spring, is still used as a rag-well.

Visited by OS (NKB) 28 January 1966.

Traces of a heap of stones and a grassy mound remained of the chapel in 1834. A stone trough named the 'Fairy's Cradle' stood nearby until about 1745 when it was destroyed.

Orig Paroch Scot 1855; H Miller 1835

This has been a desk assessment area.

J Wordsworth, SSSIs, Scottish Natural Heritage, 1993.

St Bennet's Chapel (site of), well - visited.

This natural spring in less than 40m above the high water mark in dense undergrowth. Large stones next to spring may be the remains of a surround for the well or may be natural.

CFA/MORA Coastal Assessment Survey 1998.