Kerrowmore, Cladh Bhranno
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned), Cross Slab (Early Medieval), Grave Slab (Period Unassigned), Bell
Site Name Kerrowmore, Cladh Bhranno
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned), Cross Slab (Early Medieval), Grave Slab (Period Unassigned), Bell
Canmore ID 24234
Site Number NN54NE 3
NGR NN 58171 46767
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/24234
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Fortingall
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NN54NE 3 58171 46767
Balna-heglish with the kirk of Brennan.
W Macfarlane 1908; T Pont notes c.1600
The ancient graveyard of Brenno (Watson 1913), Cladh Bhranno (Watson 1926), Cladh Brenudh (Stewart 1928) or Cladh Bhrennu (Anderson 1881) is 1/4 mile W of Kerrowclach fort (NN54NE 1).
In the 14th century a chapel nearby (NN54NE 7) was demolished and a new chapel, supposedly dedicated to St Brandon, was built in the graveyard. This, in its turn, became ruinous about 1777, and a Celtic iron hand-bell that had been preserved in it, and is belived to have come from the original chapel, was locked up in a niche in the graveyard wall.
The bell is now in the church at Innerwick.
W J Watson 1913; 1926; A Stewart 1928; J Anderson 1881
NN 5818 4676. The burial ground, Cladh Bhranno (name still in local usage), is still used occasionally. There is a small font lying just inside the entrance, and the bell is still in the church at Innerwick.
Visited by OS (RD) 17 September 1969
No change to previous field report.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (JP) 17 September 1975
Early Christian and medieval slabs:
(1) probably Christian in date. A dressed slab, somewhat damaged, measuring 182cm by 53cm, deeply incised with an unusual outline cross, its shaft long and narrow and its arms, which reach from side to side of the slab, about four times as broad as the shaft. This carving would seem to partly overlie an earlier outline cross, now largely worn away, whose head was at the other end of the stone.
(2) A medieval grave-slab, deeply incised with a schematic representation of a late medieval two-handed sword or claymore. This slab measures 190cm by 50cm, while the sword itself is 127cm long.
Both these stones were identified on 4 August 1990.
N M Robertson 1991.
Excavation (May 2019)
NN 58171 46767 As part of ongoing research into the early Christian landscapes of Glen Lyon, two test pits were opened in the vicinity of the Cladh Bhranno burial ground (Canmore ID: 24234), in May 2019. Geophysical survey in 2017 (DES 2019, 163-4) suggested traces of a possible curvilinear enclosure to the N and E of the modern enclosure wall, and a trial trench confirmed a heavily denuded stone bank to the north. One 2 x 5m trench abutting the NE corner of the burial ground wall found no traces of any earlier wall or enclosure feature, and produced no finds except heavily abraded modern midden material.
A ‘porch’ extending N from this corner of the burial ground was cleared of vegetation and recorded digitally. It was found to have a rough foundation of large boulders, quite unlike the regular masonry of the modern wall above.
A slot trench (3.5 x 1.7m) was located in the rubble cairn N of the graveyard in order to investigate a clear linear anomaly seen in geophysical survey and corresponding with an unroofed structure depicted in the 1st Edition OS map. A large linear arrangement of irregular boulders was partially identified running approximately E-W through the trench, but no indication of wall facing, indicating a stone structure robbed down to its foundations. Only modern midden material was found in the mixed rubble overlying this.
Archive: NRHE, University of Glasgow (intended)
Anouk Busset, Adrián Maldonado, Megan Kasten, Scott McCreadie - University of Glasgow (AB, MK, SM); National Museums of Scotland (AM)
(Source: DES Vol 20)
