Oronsay, Macduffie Cross
Cairn (Period Unknown)(Possible), Coffin Cairn (Period Unknown)(Possible), Cross (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Site Name Oronsay, Macduffie Cross
Classification Cairn (Period Unknown)(Possible), Coffin Cairn (Period Unknown)(Possible), Cross (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Canmore ID 37799
Site Number NR38NE 10
NGR NR 356 884
NGR Description NR c. 356 884
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/37799
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Colonsay And Oronsay
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR38NE 10 c. 356 884.
(Area: 356 885) The site of the MacDuffie cairn and cross on an unploughed area inside the SW wall of a field. The cross stood on top of a cairn of stones (little of which remains) and is traditionally said to have been beautifully carved. It disappeared probably more than a century ago, but the recollection of it remains. It was thought to have been buried in the sand near the cairn but search has not as yet revealed it.
There are at least two traditions about this cairn, one is that the last of the chiefs of the MacDuffies was killed and buried here, which is unlikely. The other is that it stood beside the former line of the road from the Strand (NR 37 93) to Oronsay Priory (NR38NW 1) via Cille Mhoire (NR38NE 1) and that it was a resting place for the coffins being conveyed along the road. The cross is mentioned by Martin (about 1700) and Pennant (1772) and the adjacent field is still known as Pairc na Croise.
S Grieve 1923; J de V Loder 1935
Area NR 356 884 The site of the cross is thought locally to have been at the point where the wall was demolished to accommodate an airstrip. Alongside the wall at this point can be traced the course of the old road to the Priory.
Visited by OS (BS) 12 April 1974
Field Visit (July 1974)
NR c. 356 884. The traditional site of a cairn used as a resting-place for the coffins of MacDuffie chiefs being brought for burial at
Oronsay Priory (NR38NW 1) is located about 800m SE of the Priory and about 350m S of the present road from the Priory to the Strand. It appears to have been situated at the sw edge of a field formerly known as Pairc na Croise ('Park of the Cross'), in an area which has now been levelled as part of an aircraft landing-strip, and there are no visible remains.
Martin, writing shortly before 1700, recorded that a stone cross called 'MaeDuffie's Cross' was fixed in the cairn, and Pennant in 1772 also saw 'a small cross'. Later tradition recorded by Grieve asserted that it was 'of beautiful workmanship', but it is not known whether this cross was one of the medieval fragments preserved at Oronsay Priory. (Martin c.1700; Pennant 1772; Grieve 1923; Loder 1935)
RCAHMS 1984, visited July 1974.
