Cladh Nam Paitean, Burial Ground

NR63SE 23 66370 34656

(NR 66370 34656) Claoidh nam Baithtean Burial Gd (NAT)

OS 6" map (1867)

Cladh nam Paitean (NAT)

OS 6" map (1924)

Claogh nam Paitean is a modern burial place enclosed by a stone wall. It was first used as the resting place of some shipwrecked mariners, who had been washed ashore and gradually by the peasantry of the adjacent country (P MacIntosh 1861). The name was collected as Claogh nam Paitean and was authorised in this spelling by MacIntosh and by three local authorities. It appears to have been changed to Claoidh nam Baithtean - Burial Place of the Drowned People - to fit the explanation of its origin.

Name Book 1867

Burial-ground, Cladh nam Paitean. This burial-ground was evidently in existence as early as 1699, when it was reported that several of the graves were overlaid with white pebble-stones (J L Campbell and D Thomson 1963) but the earliest tombstone now recognisable bears the date 1731. An 18th-century headstone of slightly later date is worth recording on account of its carved representation of a plough-team.

RCAHMS 1971, visited 1962

The burial ground Cladh nam Paitean, occupying a consolidated shingle bank or dune, is still in use having been extended.

Visited by OS (NKB) 4 January 1978

NR 6745 0775 (Keil Cemetery); NR 6637 3468 (Patcheon Cemetery) Due to the proximity of Scheduled Ancient Monuments and prior to the proposed extensions of the cemeteries at Keil (NR60NE 1) and Patcheon (NR63SE 23), archaeological evaluations were undertaken in July 2005. The evaluation at Keil encountered probable shell midden deposits at the SE corner of the site. These were a maximum of 0.8m deep. No artefacts were recovered. As a result, the cemetery extension was curtailed to avoid this area of archaeological interest.

The evaluation at Patcheon encountered no significant archaeological deposits or artefacts.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Argyll and Bute Council.

R Engl 2005