Archaeology Notes

Event ID 739902

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/739902

NH66NE 40 66 69.

A site 'hospitale' which evidently lay between Helmsdale and Wick is mentioned in 1290. The context makes it clear that this was not the hospital at Helmsdale, and it is equally unlikely to refer to the hospital of St Magnus which lies well off the route between Helmsdale and Wick. The site is much more likely to be located on the coastal plain between these places. In this respect Obsdale (name at NH 665 699 on OS 1:10,000 map, 1992) which has been identified with the lands of Hospitill which appear in 1384, 1490 and in several post-Reformation sources, appears to most nearly fit the requirements. There is no positive evidence of a medieval hospital here, the only foundation connected with Obsdale which is on record being a chaplainry in Fortrose cathedral, mentioned in 1547.

I Cowan and D Easson 1976.

The attribution of the hospital mentioned in the 1290 reference to a location at Obsdale is clearly incorrect as Obsdale does not lie between Helmsdale and Wick. References to the lands of 'Hospostyl' in the Earldom of Ross, occur in 1384, to 'Hospitall' in 1490 and 'Hospitill' in 1597. These have been associated with the chaplainry of Obsdale in the cathedral of Ross. Whether these indicate the site of, or merely the property of, a hospital remains unclear.

Origines Parochiales Scotiae, Vol 2 Part 2, p.469.