Kinkell Cave
Cave (Period Unassigned), Cross Incised Rock (Early Medieval)
Site Name Kinkell Cave
Classification Cave (Period Unassigned), Cross Incised Rock (Early Medieval)
Canmore ID 34328
Site Number NO51NW 42
NGR NO 5320 1574
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/34328
- Council Fife
- Parish St Andrews And St Leonards
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
Kinkell Cave, Fife, rock carvings, carved stone
Measurements:
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 5320 1574
Present location: the loose slab is lost.
Evidence for discovery: Stuart mentions carvings of crosses on the walls in 1867. The cave was excavated in 1913, when a carved slab was found lying on top of the floor deposits and a carving of a possible deer was noted on the roof.
Present condition:
Description
All the carvings were incised and more than one phase of carving is likely to have taken place. The lost slab was a very irregular oval stone with carvings on one broad and smooth surface (Wace & Jehu 1915, fig 3). The human figure mentioned in the excavation account is difficult to make out on the published photograph, but the four large crosses are clearly visible. Two are simple linear crosses, one of which stands on a triangular pedestal. Below are two more elaborate outline crosses. One has a square central panel to the cross-head, which contains a cruciform arrangement of four small squares. The other, more carelessly delineated, has a circular central panel containing an oval, an extra arm below the left arm and a small equal-armed cross above the right arm.
Date: early medieval.
References: Stuart 1867, page 89; Wace & Jehu 1915, 233-7.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017.
Excavation (May 1913 - June 1913)
Excavated May and June 1913 by Prof Jehu and A G B Wace.
A J B Wace and Jehu 1915
Field Visit (9 May 1928)
Caves.
(1) ST. RULE'S OR LADY BUCHAN'S CAVE. At the base of the sea-cliff 150 yards south-east of the Castle are the remains of a cave which has been artificially enlarged. The access is from the southern side, where rough steps lead up to the cave proper, which has been so much eroded at the mouth that the interior is exposed to view. The total area has been 21 ¾ by 11 feet, and it has been divided into two chambers, each provided with a seat. These features may not be older than 1760-65, when Lady Buchan, who lived in St. Andrews, fitted up the place "as a romantic retreat" (1).
(2) KINKELL. This cave is about 2 miles south-east of St. Andrews. It was examined in 1913, and the results are described in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xlix (1914-15), pp. 233-7. A loose slab of sandstone, marked with inscribed crosses and a human figure, was probably brought from elsewhere. Other crosses were cut on the walls (2), and "at one place the figure of an animal, possibly a red deer, has been incised on the roof." (3).
RCAHMS 1933, visited 9 May 1928.
(1) Hay Fleming's Handbook of St. Andrews, p. 88. (2) Stuart's Sculptured Stones of Scotland, ii, lxxxviii. (3) Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., as cited, p.236.
Desk Based Assessment (24 April 1956)
Kinkell Cave. Excavated May and June 1913 by Prof Jehu and A G B Wace. The cave is about 15 feet wide and 80 feet long. The floor has a double slope, one from north to south due to the pile of fallen rubbish at the entrance, the other from west to east due to the angle of dip of the sandstone beds.
A trench was dug to a depth of 6 feet from the mouth, cutting into the cave from N-S. "At a distance of about 12 feet from the entrance traces of human habitation were detected by the presence of a thin black
layer, 1 1/2 to 3 feet below the present floor. From this point inward a pit was sunk covering approximately the hatched area shown on the plan." The stratification in the pit proves that the cave had been inhabited at several periods, and a rich find of bones was obtained. The thin black layer covered only a small area and contained a few bones and shells.
1 1/2 feet below this another black layer was seen, nearly 3 feet thick and extending over the whole of the hatched area (see plan). This deposit was full of decomposed organic matter indicating human occupation and it rested on a roughly made floor of Sandstone slabs covering the space shown on the plan by cross-hatching. This layer yielded bones, fragments of boars tusks, and shells of winkles, whelks and limpets. Two fragments of ordinary reddish and rather thin Romano-British ware and a piece of Samian ware, evidently the centre of the bottom of a bowl, were the only fragments of pottery found. These sherds however, date the occupation of the cave to the second century AD, but since the sherd was found in the middle of the deposit the floor may be of earlier date. The handle of a bronze jug and some iron nails were also found in this stratum. A slab of sandstone with curious incisions was found on top of this stratum. The type of stone is not obtainable in situ anywhere near the cave; it bears a human figure, possibly a monk and some crosses. The crosses mentioned by Stuart (1867) as visible on the wall of the cave are probably of the same period. (Stuart dates the small inscribed crosses in the majority of Fifeshire caves to 5th-9th century).
Below the paved floor was another layer of sandstone rubble, and in this at two levels (E-F) were thin black streaks indicating two short periods of human occupation. These yielded only a few bones and shells and are so close below the paved floor that they cannot be much anterior in date.
"The data lead us to the conclusion that the cave was inhabited in the Roman period and again during the Celtic Early Christian period. Later, according to local tradition, it served as a place of refuge for Covenanters."
A J B Wace and Jehu 1915
Information from OS Index Card (MH) 24 April 1956
Source: A J B Wace and Jehu 1915
Desk Based Assessment (29 June 1956)
Similar information. The cave now bears no trace of the sculptured animal and crosses, probably due to the fact that the sandstone roof is gradually flaking off.
Information from D C Baird, 29 June 1956 (visited February 1952).
Information from OS Index Card (MH) 29 June 1956
Field Visit (23 October 1956)
NO 5314 1574. The frontage of the cave has silted up, and entry was not possible. The opening is 4m wide and 1m high.
Visited by OS (JLD) 23 October 1956
Field Visit (19 November 1962)
The actual cave referred to in OS 6" map (1921) is situated at NO 5320 1573 and is still accessible.
Visited by OS (ES) 19 November 1962
Field Visit (3 September 1968)
NO 5320 1574. This cave is as planned by Wace and Jehu and its present condition generally as given by Baird.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 3 September 1968
Reference (1970)
Roman finds from the cave consist of a possibly 2nd century handle of a bronze jug, a fragment of possibly stamped Samian and two fragments of coarse reddish pottery.
A S Robertson 1970
Field Visit (1996)
Kinkell cave; sculptured stone.
Seen from outside: very overgrown at entrance.
Site recorded by Maritime Fife during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, Fife Ness to Newburgh 1996
