Desk Based Assessment
Event ID 818442
Category Recording
Type Desk Based Assessment
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/818442
NF98SW 4 9282 8263.
(NF 9282 8263) Site of Cill Aiseam (NR) Graveyard (NAT)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)
Martin mentions two chapels in Berneray, St Asaph's (Cill Aiseam) and St Columbus'. He also refers to a stone erected near the former, 8ft high and 2ft thick. All traces of the chapel had disappeared by 1870, and the stone was broken into two parts c.1820, the pieces utilised as door-lintels. Carmichael was successful in tracing the upper half and getting it removed. It is a piece of carved gneiss 3ft 8ins x 1ft 7ins x 3ins, and is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
The second half has been lost. It was said that the base of the obelisk was surrounded by a heap of pebbles, old coins, bone pins, and bronze needles - all offerings at the shrine of St Asaph. Cultivation on the site has also yielded up a number of bones.
Information from OS.
M Martin 1934; A A Carmichael 1871; RCAHMS 1928; J R Allen 1903.
