Islay, Newton

NR 343 628. Cropmarks on air photographs show, 15m N of NR36SE 27, a single ditched enclosure sub-circular on plan and measuring about 58m NW-SW by about 50m transversely over all. The entrance may lie within the broad gap on the ESE. Nothing is visible on the ground. (See also NR36SW 4).

RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1981.

This remarkable complex of sites, which was revealed solely by cropmarks recorded on air photographs (RCAHMSAP 1977), occupies an area of rising ground on the right bank of the River Sorn lying between Newton farmhouse and the public road from Bridgend to Port Askaig (A846); it may be significant that these fields represent the heart of the richest arable ground in the whole island.

(1) NR 341 628 - 343 627. Extending ESE from the public highway for a distance of about 180m on the s side of the track leading to Newton farmhouse, there is a cluster of at least seventeen barrows, revealed by the annular or penannular markings of their enclosing ditch and, in most cases, of what appears to be a central grave-pit. The barrows range in diameter from about 4m to 10m.

(2) NR 343 627. Immediately to the E of (l) there is a roughly circular enclosure (A), measuring about 17m in diameter over its single ditch, which does not appear to contain a central pit.

(3) NR 343 628. About 25m to the N of A there is a second single-ditched enclosure (B), subcircular on plan and measuring 57m from E to why at least 40m transversely over all. The ditch appears to be interrupted at an entrance on the N.

(4) NR 343 629. Enclosure C, lying 15m to the N of B, is also subcircular on plan and defined by a single ditch; it measures about 58m from NE to sw by about 50m transversely over all. The entrance may lie within the broad gap on the ESE.

(5) Interspersed among the barrows (1) are a number of features defined by cropmarks which defy ready classification: one is a thin-ditched, roughly L-shaped structure measuring about 30m from NW to SE by 17m transversely with an average width of about 8.0m; the others are characterised by more amorphous areas of darker cropmarking, presumably representing local hollows in the subsoil - most are oval or subcircular in shape, but one is conspicuously wedge-shaped. It is possible, on the analogy of similar markings recorded on the mainland, that some may indicate the sites of habitations; for further discussion, see the Introduction to RCAHMS 1984, Argyll volume 5)

RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1981