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Skye, Achnacloich
Hoard (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Knife (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Pin (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Spearhead(S) (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Sword(S) (Bronze)(Bronze Age)
Site Name Skye, Achnacloich
Classification Hoard (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Knife (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Pin (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Spearhead(S) (Bronze)(Bronze Age), Sword(S) (Bronze)(Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Point Of Sleat; Gillean; Ach-na-cloich
Canmore ID 11414
Site Number NG50NE 3
NGR NG 5923 0949
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11414
- Council Highland
- Parish Sleat
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG50NE 3 5923 0949.
A Late Bronze Age hoard was found in 1849 by a workman cutting peats between the farms of Gillean and Ach-na-Cloich. The objects, which were found together with several oak boards about 2ft long and 1 1/2" thick, consisted of a leaf-shaped sword, two leaf-shaped spearheads, a curved socketed knife and a cup-head pin.
The hoard is Irish and dates from the 7th century BC. It is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1862; 1871; 1923; J M Coles 1962.
The Misses MacDonald of Achnacloich (who are about 80 years of age) state that they clearly remember their grandfather telling them the hoard was found above and to the W of Achnacloich, near the W bank of the burn (below Druim Diomhaim), upon the first fairly level place above the highest old field bank at NG 5923 0949.
Visited by OS (A S P) 21 June 1961.
(Sword of Ewart Park type - Caledonian step 2). Found 6km from Armadale Castle, 1km from the coast, on the N side of the Point of Sleat, between the farms of Gillean and Achnacloich, in 1849. The finder was a workman cutting peat.
Complete sword, length 56.65cm, terminal width 4.65cm, shoulder width 5.1cm, mediam blade width 4.3cm; badly cast; flaws over surface. Patina gone but some black patches near butt; rivets, 1 (+1 bl): (2 bl), none in situ. NMAS DQ 393 (Lord MacDonald of Armadale Castle collection).
C B Burgess and I Colquhoun 1988.
External Reference (2011)
Although the hoard is published as from the Point of Sleat, it was found above the township of Achnacloich, on the Sleat peninsula but not at the Point of Sleat.
The style of the pin and knife is Irish. The knife may have been made from the same mould as a similar one found in a hoard at Cullerne in Moray. None of the objects have been used. The objects may have been made in Ireland, or by an Irish smith working in Scotland. (SCRAN dataset)
SCRAN dataset, with picture at www.scran.ac,uk . SCRAN id 000-100-034-430-C
Information from the ARCH Community Timeline course, 2011
