Field Visit
Date May 1975
Event ID 921626
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/921626
NR 405 954. According to tradition (en.1) this site lies about 35m S of the main group of ruinous houses at Riasg Buidhe (RCAHMS 1984, No.426; NR49NW 26) and partly occupies the summit of a low rocky ridge which runs E-W. The vestiges of a transverse wall near the E end of the ridge may represent one of the boundaries of the cemetery, but there are no clearly identifiable remains of a chapel (en.2). The surface of the area in question is covered by a number of boulders, some of which may mark the positions of burials, and near the crest of the ridge there is a hollowed basin or mortar cut from a rock outcrop. There are the remains of a well in the gully immediately to the S of the burial-ground.
CARVED STONES. Number 1 (NR49NW 8.01) formerly stood 'at the east end of the chapel' (en.3), and was removed about 1870 to the grounds of Colonsay House, where it stands beside Tobar Odhrain (see NR39NE 3.08). Number 2 (NR49NW 8.02) was discovered in 1974, reused in the wall of an outbuilding close to the burial-ground (en.4), and is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.
(1) Cruciform slab of local Torridonian flagstone, broken obliquely at the foot. It measures 1.37m in height by 0.36m across the arms, which have a maximum projection of 45mm. The slab is roughly triangular in section, having a maximum thickness of 120mm, while the side-arms are about 70 mm in thickness and are set towards the front. The back appears to be undressed, but the front, the edges and the backs of the arms show traces of peeking. The front is carved in low relief with a Latin cross, terminating at the foot in a fish-like forked tail, and at the top in a human face with prominent eyebrows, thick lips framing a down-turned mouth, and a ridge round the chin which may indicate a beard. The upper part of the slab is tapered so that the top of the head is carved in the round, the division being marked by a moulded collar which begins below the ears and continues onto the back, where it splits to enclose a lozenge-shaped hollow. The cross is outlined by a roll-moulding, continuous except where it adjoins the head, and the upper arm contains two parallel inner mouldings which divide into spirals in the side-arms. In the centre and lower arm of the cross a series of curving mouldings suggest the legs of a figure. The lower part of the slab, below the side-arms, is bordered by a pecked margin, (the engraving in Stevenson 1881 and Allen and Anderson 1903, which represents the margin returning horizontally at the foot of the slab, misrepresents Mackenzie's photograph of about 1870 showing the cross in its present condition) and a vertical band supporting the base of the cross is interrupted by the break at the foot of the slab. This carving is probably of 7th- or 8th-century date. For further discussion see p. 00. (NMAS cast (front only); photo by Revd J B Mackenzie in NMRS; PSAS, 15 (1880-1), 121-2; ibid, 34 (1899-1900), 331; ECMS, 3, p. 396 and fig. 413; Grieve, Colonsay, 2, fig. 27 opp. p.232; Loder, Colonsay, 78-9 and pl. xx; JRSAI, 90 (1960), 195-6 and fig. 1 d on p.193; Thomas, Early Christain Archaeology, fig. 61 on p.129).
(2) Part of a slab of Torridonian flagstone, possibly trimmed for reuse, and broken at the foot; it measures 0.37m in length by 0.14m in width and 65mm in thickness. On one face it bears the lightly pecked outline of a Latin cross, with a circular boss at the centre and a smaller circle at the end of each limb. Certain features, notably the irregular outline of the cross-shaft and the fact that the carving is not on the natural cleavage-plane but on a cut face, suggest that it is of fairly recent origin.
RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1975
(en.1) OS Name Book (en.2)Stevenson 1881; Loder 1935 (en.3) Stevenson 1881 (en.4) information from Mr D Alexander, formerly of Scalasaig
