Ford
Cist (Bronze Age)
Site Name Ford
Classification Cist (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 22794
Site Number NM80SE 35
NGR NM 8689 0356
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22794
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmartin
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM80SE 35 8689 0356.
(NM 8689 0356) Cist (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)
A natural gravel mound at the crossroads in Ford village has a cist exposed on its west side. Its flat cover measures 7' 2" by 3' 9" by 9", and internally, the cist measures 2' 9" by 2' 4" in depth. The west side has been removed and is probably lying broken above the cover. There is no record of when the cist was opened, but Campbell and Sandeman suggest that a food vessel presented to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) in 1885 (Accession no EE 57) by the then acting minister of Ford, and said to have come from 'a cist in the neighbourhood of the lower end of Loch Awe' may have come from this site. Authority 4 records the finding of some human bones when the cist was opened, but makes no mention of the date of opening or of the food vessel.
M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1886; Name Book 1871; NMAS 1892.
As described.
Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.
Visited by OS (D W R) 11 October 1971.
Field Visit (May 1983)
This cist is set into the W side of a natural gravel knoll opposite the Ford Hotel; aligned N and S, it measures 0.85m by 0.65m internally. Both end-slabs and the E side-slab remain in position, but the W side-slab has been removed. The cover slab measures 2.3m by 1.1m and 0.1m in thickness, and still protects the N half of the cist. (Campbell and Sandeman noted that there was a slab 'lying broken above the cover', but there was no sign of it on the date of visit) (Campbell and Sandeman 1964). A Food Vessel, now in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 'found in a cist in the neighbourhood of the lower end of Loch Awe', may have been found in it; however, apart from the notice of the donation of the vessel to the museum in 1886, (PSAS 1886), there are no further details.
Visited May 1983
RCAHMS 1988
Archaeological Evaluation (12 October 2004)
Ruari Murray commissioned SUAT to undertake an archaeological evaluation on the site of proposed residential development at Ford, Lochgilphead, Argyll (centred on NM 8688 0352). The site is a garden ground within the angle of the B840, where it turns East and crosses the Ford River at Ford. The evaluation was required due to the site's close proximity to a burial cist less than 100m to the North.
