Archaeology Notes

Event ID 819245

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/819245

NG87NW 9 8075 7565

See also NG77NE 1.

Mr Bannerman (G Bannerman, District Surveyor, Gairloch, Wester Ross) reports that human bones and a Pictish symbol stone of Torridon sandstone were found about 1880 in 'The field of the cairn - Achtercairn, 'an almost flat arable field centred at NG 799 772. The symbol stone measures 36" by 20-24" by 5" and served as the step of an outhouse at Flowerdale House, until recently when it was placed in the Parish Church.

R B K Stevenson 1954.

In 1964 the Rev. D Macdonald had the symbol stone, which is incised with a fish and part of a goose, built into the south wall of the new cemetery at NG 8075 7565.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (R D) 30 March 1965.

Now in Gairloch Museum.

Information contained in letter from A Jackson, 11 November 1985.

Class I symbol stone bearing an eagle over a salmon.

A Mack 1997.

A long-cist burial (for which see NG77NE 1) was excavated in 1949 at the head of Strath Bay, an inlet of Loch Gairloch, and about 25m W of Abhainn Achadh Chairn. Human remains and a symbol-stone had been found in the same area about 1880, and other burials have been found about 190m to the SE (1). The symbol-stone was used as a stair-tread in an outhouse at Flowerdale House until about 1950, when it was removed to the parish church. In 1964 it was incorporated in the entrance to the new cemetery that lies E of the old burial-ground (2), and in 1977 it was presented to Gairloch Heritage Museum.

The stone is a slab of Torridonian sandstone, 0.97m high by 0.71m in maximum width and 0.58m at the foot, measuring 0.12m in thickness. It is much worn and parts have been lost through flaking, especially at the top and left edge, but some of the irregularity of the surface seems to predate the carvings. At the top, and facing left, there is incised an eagle which has lost its head and back through flaking (3). Its feathered legs and wing are indicated, but there is little other surviving detail. Below this, and facing in the same direction, there is a well-drawn salmon, 0.46m long, with a crescentic tail and a dorsal and two lower fins.

Footnotes:

(1) R B K Stevenson 1954, 110; NMRS database NG77NE 1.

(2) NGR NG 8075 7565. The burial-ground that lies between the E shore of Loch Gairloch and the A 832 was the site of the medieval parish church, which was dedicated to St Maelrubha (J H Dixon 1886, 63, 69-70, 99; NMRS database NG87NW 2; A G and M H Beattie 1987, 28-31).

(3) This bird was identified as a goose by C Thomas (Archaeological Journal, 120 (1963), 94), but its tail, legs and feet closely resemble those of the eagle from Knowe of Burrian, Orkney (PSAS, 74 (1939-40), pl.13d; cf. D G MacLean 1985, 109-13; L Alcock 1998, 527).

R B K Stevenson 1954; A Mack 1997; L Alcock 1998; I Fisher 2001.