Gunna

NM05SE 2 0993 5115.

(NM 0993 5115) The remains of a chapel and cemetery, the exclusive burial place of the MacLeans of Coll, are still distinctly traceable above Port na Cille, as is also a good spring, evidently the chapel-well. (Probably the 'W' shown at NM 0996 5115. Detail of building shown on OS 6" but not named.)

E Beveridge 1903; W Reeves 1854.

The chapel is oriented ENE-WSW and measures 3.5m by 2.5m within a dry-stone wall 0.8 m thick with a maximum height of 1.4m. The entrance, 0.7m wide, is in the N end of the E gable.

The site of the well is indicated by a wet hollow.

There is no trace of a burial ground and the area around the chapel is covered with lazy-bed cultivation.

Visited by OS (O S S) 2 July 1972.

(NM 0993 5115) Chapel (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

Chapel, Gunna (Site): There are no identifiable traces of this chapel, which presumably stood within the vicinity of the natural harbour and landing-place at Port na Cille on the SE coast of the island. Vestiges of later shieling-huts or bothies are grouped round this landing-place, the most substantial being those of a building of sub- rectangular plan and dry-stone construction some 45m to the NW.

The island of Gunna, which was a property of Iona Nunnery, formed part of the medieval parish of Coll, and, according to a late 17th-century description, 'in the midst of it is a ruinous Chepall' (OPS 1854). The dedication is unknown.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1973; Orig Paroch Scot (OPS) 1854; W Macfarlane 1907.

NM 099 511 Topographic survey and trial trenching were carried out near the harbour of Port na Cille, on the supposed site of a medieval chapel (NMRS NM05SE 2) and burial ground, in advance of a proposed house construction. The survey recorded over 30 features, including the vestiges of 20 turf-walled structures, a turf dyke, several areas of lazybeds, and a ditch and upcast bank. Ten trial trenches, opened over areas to be disturbed by the proposed development, uncovered several archaeological features. These included a structure, probably of late medieval date, consisting of stone footings with a rubble core, and the footings of a second, probably earlier, structure beside it on a slightly different alignment; a ditch, 1.5m deep, which produced a sherd of low-fired pottery and a flint blade in its primary fills, as well as post-medieval pottery and nails in its upper fills; and a collapsed field wall, with low-fired pottery and layers of midden (including shells, animal bones and charcoal) associated with it.

The original house plot had been excavated previously, in the absence of a professional archaeologist, by mechanical digger. Surviving in the sections of this trench were the remains of a substantial midden, 1m deep, consisting of layers of organic material rich in shell and animal bone lying above burnt horizons. The layers were cleaned, recorded and sampled, and sherds of low-fired pottery and a few flint flakes were recovered from them. A spread of organic, midden-rich material on the surface of the trench proved to lie above and around a linear spread of stones, which may have formed a structure. Finds recovered from the spoil heap include a retouched flint blade, several sherds of low-fired pottery, fragments of copper alloy and many pieces of animal bone and shell. The pottery appears to be early medieval in date.

Sponsor: Marcus de Ferranti.

O Lelong 1997