Chapel Hill, Portmahomack
Cist(S) (Prehistoric)(Possible)
Site Name Chapel Hill, Portmahomack
Classification Cist(S) (Prehistoric)(Possible)
Canmore ID 15654
Site Number NH98SW 3
NGR NH 9164 8452
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/15654
- Council Highland
- Parish Tarbat
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NH98SW 3 9164 8452
(NH 9164 8452) Stone Cists, some containing Skeletons, others Urns, with Bones and Ashes found (NAT)
OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1907).
See also NH98SW 5.
Several 'chests' composed of rough freestone flags were dug up c. 1840 at Chapel Hill near Portmahomack in levelling ground for new buildings. Each contained an unusually large and entire skeleton in a crouched position (NSA 1845).
Some of the cists contained skeletons entire while others a small urn containing calcined bones and ashes (Ordnance Survey Name Book [ONB] 1872).
New Statistical Account (NSA, written by G Dunoon) 1845; Name Book 1872.
No further information.
Visited by OS (AA), 19 September 1972.
Field Visit (September 1978)
Portmahomack, Chapel NH 916 845 NH98SW 6
The discovery before 1845 of human bones 'deposited within rough flags of freestone' may be linked with the chapel that is alleged to have stood on this site. The rough flooring of flat stones in a roughly oblong setting, approximately east and west', recorded in 1947 may be associated with the chapel or with later buildings, which were still standing on the site in 1907.
RCAHMS 1979, visited September 1978
(NSA, xiv, Ross and Cromarty, 460; OPS 1851-5, ii, 434; OS 6-inch map, Ross and Cromarty, 2nd edition 1907, sheet xxx; Davidson 1946, 27)
