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Iona, Laraichean
Clearance Cairn(S) (Post Medieval), Hut (Post Medieval), Stock Enclosure(S) (Post Medieval)
Site Name Iona, Laraichean
Classification Clearance Cairn(S) (Post Medieval), Hut (Post Medieval), Stock Enclosure(S) (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 21629
Site Number NM22SE 21
NGR NM 2607 2185
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/21629
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilfinichen And Kilvickeon
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM22SE 21 2607 2185
(NM 2607 2185) Laraichean (NR) (In ruins)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)
A small settlement defined by low stone walls forming circular enclosures and huts of various sizes; a small stone cairn (or collapsed corbelled structure); and a sizeable bank protecting the settlement from the sea, on the crest of a steeply shelving shingle beach.
Crawford noted a horse-shoe shaped enclosure at NM 2606 2190 which is presumably associated with the settlement. The name "Laraichean" means "foundations" and applies to what is said to be the original Columban settlement of 563.
The settlement may possibly be prehistoric since it looks medieval at least (Thomas 1959).
A C Thomas 1959; Name Book 1878; O G S Crawford 1933; OS 6" map annotated by O G S Crawford, 1935.
The remains of a small steading bounded on its SW side by a stone wall, and consisting of a small sub-rectangular building, two stock enclosures, and an unidentifiable structure, all of uncertain date but probably medieval.
Visited by OS (DWR) 8 June 1972.
Field Visit (June 1979)
LÀRAICHEAN (15, 3 on Fig.).
These remains are situated on a raised-beach terrace N of the boat-landing of Port Làraichean, in a small valley enclosed on N, E and w by steep slopes and sheer rock-faces. A circular enclosure (A) about 16m in diameter was bounded by a stone-and-turf dyke, now reduced to its lowest courses, butted against the c1iff face to the w; the entrance appears to have been in the N sector. Some 15 m to the S there has been another dyke which probably formed the S boundary of a rectilinear enclosure (B), although the traces of its E wall are very slight. A scatter of stones in the re-entrant angle at the junction of these enclosures is probably due to field clearance. Further s there are the remains of a rectangular building (C) measuring 3·4m by 2·7m within 0·6m wall, and three piles of stones, probably clearance-cairns; the largest of these (D), 8·5m in diameter and 1 m in maximum height , may have been accumulated round the ruins of another building. Although a considerable quantity of stone has thus been moved, there are no visible traces of arable cultivation.
When this site was first described in the 19th century, it was supposed that the remains were dwellings of great antiquity, and a pre-Columban origin has sometime been suggested (1). Crawford, however, was justifiably sceptical of this claim (2), and they may be identified a stock -enclosure, with an associated bothy or shelter. Although the name Làraichean ('Ruin') show that the site was abandoned long before the middle of the 19th century, the remain are probably of post-medieval date.
RCAHMS 1982, June 1979
(1) Adomnan, Columba (Reeves), 421-2; Maxwell, W, Iona and the Ionians (1857), 15-16, Ritchie, Iona, 16.
(2) Antiquity, 7 (1933), 457
Field Visit (April 1996 - May 1996)
This small settlement comprises three enclosures with a sub rectangular structure to the south. A large ?clearance cairn lies to the south of the latter and 15.0m further south are the fragmentary remains of another structure, 2.5m by 2.0 m, constructed of small stones. The enclosures are irregular in form and back onto a cliff to the west. There are two possible small structures incorporated into the enclosures.
(ION96 054)
Information from NTS (SCS) January 2016
