Berneray, Maclean's Point

This island, the most southerly point of the Outer Hebrides, measures 2.9km from E to W by 1.25km. Its surface rises steadily from the shore of the Sound of Berneray to the sheer cliffs of the S coast, almost 200m in height, which at the W end are crowned by an Iron Age promontory dun (1) and by the Barra Head lighthouse of 1830-3. The scanty remains of another promontory fortification, Dun Briste, are situated on the NW coast, and numerous other monuments of early type have been identified in a recent survey (2). The remains of pre-improvement occupation include a small mill, and there was a farming population of about twenty persons throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The island was abandoned, except for the lighthouse station, about 1910 (3).

It was believed in 1877 that there had been a chapel in the NE part of the island, and a small burial-ground was still in occasional use (4). This is the most level area of the island and contains the remains of several structures and enclosures. The burial-ground is situated about 100m S of the low promontory of Maclean's Point and 280m ESE of the landing-place. There are remains of an ovoid drystone enclosure, about 35m from E to W and divided by a transverse wall, which contains in the E part a low mound overlain by graves and later structures (5). The area is densely overgrown with wild iris, but several small gravemarkers are identifiable, including one cross-marked pillar.

The cross-marked stone is a tilted but earthfast slab of gneiss, 0.59m in visible height by 0.35m and 0.17m thick. On the W face there is a Latin cross, 0.25m high and 0.11m in span, incised with a sunken groove of U-section about 15mm wide. The shaft and top arm have triangular terminals whereas the side-arms have rounded ends.

Footnotes:

(1) RCAHMS 1928, No.450 and fig.190; B Buxton 1995, 139-40.

(2) P Foster 1992, 88; B Buxton 1995, 138-40; P Foster and R Krivanek 1993, 418-28 (copy in NMRS); survey reports by Sheffield University, Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, 1992 (copies in NMRS, MSS 595/7 and 8); K Branigan and P Foster 2000, 128-46.

(3) B Buxton 1995, 140-7.

(4) Name Book, Inverness-shire (Hebrides), No.2, p.131; T S Muir 1885, 255. NMRS database NL58SE 4 identifies Martin's description of an 'altar dedicated to St Christopher' and a nearby standing-stone (M Martin 1934, 97) as referring to Berneray. The context indicates that these were on Mingulay.

(5) P Foster and R Krivanek 1993, 426 and fig.9 on p.427; K Branigan and P Foster 2000, 137-8

(RCAHMS 1928, No.467 and fig.176).

I Fisher 2001, 105.