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Eigg, Galmisdale
Cairn(S) (Prehistoric), Cist (Prehistoric)
Site Name Eigg, Galmisdale
Classification Cairn(S) (Prehistoric), Cist (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 22189
Site Number NM48SE 5
NGR NM 48333 83845
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22189
- Council Highland
- Parish Small Isles
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Inverness-shire
NM48SE 5 48333 83845.
(NM 4832 8385) Stone Cist found (AD 1864) (NAT)
OS 6" map (1903)
A stone cist or coffin found about 1864, under a large pile of stones which stood on top of a small knoll. Its size and manner of construction was much the same as that found at Need-na-feannaige (NM48SE 4). It was empty when found, and except for the top, was still intact in 1877.
Name Book 1877
Two turf-covered cairns on the brink of an E-facing escarpment. Both show occasional kerb stones around the perimeter. The more northerly measures 7.5m in diameter and 1.1m high. The other, about three metres to the S, measures 6.0m in diameter and 0.8m high, and has its centre hollowed, and it is undoubtedly in this cairn that the cist was discovered, although there is now no trace of it. About 10m to the NW is a mound of similar proportions and appearance, but this can be seen to be natural heather-covered outcrop.
Surveyed at 1/10 000.
Visited by OS (AA) 8 May 1972
Note (1928)
NOTE.
In a contribution to the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries on March 11, 1878 (vol. xii., 577-597), mention is made of the following additional monuments:
(1) "Foundations of an island dwelling" in a small loch "lying high up on the shoulder of the Scuir of Eigg, known as Lochan na Mna Moire." The island is apparently that in Lochnam Ban Mora (O.S. 6-inch), the only loch here which has an island; it is inaccessible without a boat.
(2) A cairn, "some five or six hundred yards south from Kildonnan," which provided on excavation the articles in [RCAHMS 1928] No. 2 of list on p. lvi.
(3) A cairn "a few yards further south" with articles in No 3.
(4) Cairn, "Sithean or Sguman-nan-Cailleach," containing "two cists . . . made of flat stones set on edge and laid length wise." Stones of cairn removed to fill up a drain. Sithean na Cailleich on O.S. 6-inch lxxi
The O.S. map 6-inch lxxiii. notes a stone cist just north of Kildonnan Old Church ("Ruins of Chapel," cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., as above, pp. 584-6); the site of one stone cist found in 1861, and of another in 1864, in Galmisdale; the sites of two crosses (lxxi., lxxii.) and Tobar Challuim Chille ("Columba's Well") in Cleadale (lxxi).
RCAHMS 1928
Field Visit (6 July 2001)
These two cairns stand together on the edge of an escarpment overlooking Galmisdale Pier. The N cairn (EIGG01 617) measures 7.5m in diameter and 1.2m in height. At least seven stones of the kerb remain in situ, most of them in the SE arc. There is some disturbance on the N side, and also on the SW, where cairn material is exposed, while a hollow on top of the cairn indicates that it has been dug into. The S cairn (EIGG01 618) measures 6.2m in diameter and 0.8m in height. Stones visible in the SW arc may be the remains of a kerb. This cairn has also been disturbed; a shallow trench has been driven into it from the N towards a central depression, and there is exposed cairn material in the S arc.
(EIGG01 617-8)
Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 6 July 2001
