Archaeology Notes

Event ID 696708

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/696708

NS05SE 8 09430 53523.

NS 0943 5350. The Cauldron (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

The Devil's Cauldron (J K Hewison 1893) or The Cauldron (DoE) is classified by Cruden as a "ring-fort" of late Iron Age or Dark Age date. It is situated beneath a precipitous ridge 70ft high. Its wall, composed of massive drystone blocks was about 5ft high and 8ft thick in 1960 enclosing an oval area 33ft 7ins x 31ft. The entrance in the SSE, is 4ft broad, and narrows as it reaches the interior. It is not unlikely that this was the fort of the chieftain who, in about the sixth century, gave land and perhaps the fort itself to the new monastery.

S Cruden 1960

The Devil's Cauldron, a curious circular structure of huge stones is certainly earlier than St Blan's Chapel and monastery (6th century - NS05SE 5) but its purpose has never been satisfactorily explained.

D N Marshall 1974

"The Cauldron" (name confirmed) is a near-circular enclosure situated at the foot of an east-facing cliff and enclosed within the main cashel wall of the settlement of St Blanes. It measures 10.0m NE-SW by 9.3m transversely within a double-faced wall 2.5m thick and standing to a maximum height of 1.8m. The entrance, in the SE, narrows from 2.5, wide on the outside to 1.6m wide, and shows no evidence of a door check. The wall at this point is splayed to 3.0m.

The origin and use of "the Cauldron" is conjectural; however its position at the foot of a near vertical 70ft high rock face suggests that it is not a defensive work such as a dun or "ring fort" and its wall thickness in relation to the internal diameter precludes its classification as a broch. It seems likely to be an occupational structure contemporary with the monastic establishment (NS05SE 5).

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (BS) 10 November 1976

This site is generally as described. There has been a substantial amount of reconstruction of the wall and the interior of the enclosure is up to 0.8m higher than the surrounding land surface.

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH, IP) 18 March 2009.