Archaeology Notes

Event ID 673495

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/673495

NM33NW 3 3243 3545

(NM 3243 3544) The only sign of habitation on Staffa is a pile of ruins, which still retains a comparatively well-built Gothic arched window. The ruins are 31' x 13' internally. The highest part of the 18" thick walls c. 8' high. The arched window is 4'6" from sill to apex, by 2'6", having a 6" splay in the wall. The back window is 4'6" x 2', also splayed. There is a 3' x 3'7" splayed recess, with a lintel, in the E gable, apparently a fireplace. The walls of the ruins are of well-squared blocks of basalt bonded by shell-mortar, and a central rubble core. The threshold stone is of sandstone, probably from Mull, as there is no sandstone on Staffa. The ruins have been compared to St Oran's Chapel on Iona, but the architecture is very crude. From a photograph, the ruins have been considered by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments to be the remains of a chapel, probably of 13th-14th century date. However, MacCulloch (1934) concludes that, from the fact that earlier accounts make no mention of a pointed arch window on any building on Staffa, and from enquiries, that this building was partly erected, but never completed, by the proprietor of Staffa, who intended it to be a hostel for visitors, and dates from c. 1815.

A few yards W of these ruins are the remains of what was probably a small dwelling-house, or perhaps a monastic cell. The low fragments of wall remaining have the stones built together in a workmanlike manner, though the blocks are unhewn and there is no mortar.

D MacCulloch 1934

Cottage, Staffa: The small ruined structure on the summit plateau of Staffa, some 320m NNW of the boat-landing at Clamshell Cave, is a shelter built in the Gothic style in the early 19th century for visitors to the island. It stands close to an area of former rig-cultivation, probably associated with the intermittent occupation of the island recorded in the last quarter of the 18th century. The ruins of an outhouse, probably dating from the latter period, and a freshwater spring, are situated short distances to the WNW and SW respectively. The building was evidently erected by Ranald MacDonald of Boisdale, and was perhaps left incomplete when financial difficulties compelled him to dispose of the island in 1816. It has deteriorated in recent years, the walls now standing to a maximum height of about 2m. The building measures 10.4m by 4.9m over 0.5m walls and was probably intended to be only one storey in height, containing two rooms. The masonry is of lime-mortared rubble. In the SE wall were two arch-pointed windows framed within shallow recesses extending to ground level. The door-head and one of these windows were destroyed before 1922, and the head of the remaining window has collapsed in recent years.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1973

NM 32 35 AOC (Scotland) Ltd was commissioned to undertake an archaeological survey of the lands controlled by the National Trust for Scotland on Staffa. The survey took place in late May and early April of 1996. Recorded sites are listed below. The full report of this survey has been deposited with both the local SMR and the NMRS.

McKinnon's Cave:

NM 3244 3546 Settlement and enclosures.

Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland

T Rees 1996

Two unroofed buildings are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Argyllshire, Island of Staffa etc. 1881, sheet xciii) and on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1975).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 21 July 1998.