Canna, Sgorr Nam Ban-naomha
Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Canna, Sgorr Nam Ban-naomha
Classification Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Skerry Of The Holy Women; 'cashel'; 'nunnery'; 'the Altar'
Canmore ID 319397
Site Number NG20SW 2.03
NGR NG 22991 04395
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/319397
- Council Highland
- Parish Small Isles
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Inverness-shire
Sgor nam Ban-Naomha 3, Canna, Skye & Lochalsh, cross-slab fragments
Measurements: H 0.38m, W 0.35m, D 0.04m
Stone type: Torridonian sandstone
Place of discovery: NG 2299 0439
Present location: Canna House.
Evidence for discovery: found during RCAHMS fieldwork in 1993-4, in the ruins of a stone-built hut.
Present condition: broken and weathered.
Description
These two conjoining fragments form the top left and central portion of a rectangular cross-slab. It is incised on one broad face with the upper arm and ring segments of a ringed outline cross.
Date range: eighth or ninth century.
Primary references: Fisher 2001, 101.
Reference (2001)
(3) Two fragments of a rectangular slab of Torridonian sandstone. The larger fragment, which includes two worked edges, measures 0.38m by 0.27m and varies from 30mm to 40mm in thickness, the back being irregularly flaked and laminated. It bears the shallow grooves defining one side and the end of a cross-arm and part of one quadrant of its ring. The other fragment, broken on all sides and measuring only 105mm by 80mm, fits closely to the first and preserves traces of the opposite side of the cross-arm at the break-line, as well as the curve of the next quadrant of the ring. The cross-arm, which was about 85mm high, appears to have had a slight expansion at the outer angle of the defining groove (d). The ring was about 45mm wide and encloses a slight depression, but the form of the armpits is uncertain. It is possible that this was part of a recumbent graveslab, of the type found on Iona.
I Fisher 2001
