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Jura, Carragh Chaluim Bhainn
Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval), Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Site Name Jura, Carragh Chaluim Bhainn
Classification Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval), Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 38657
Site Number NR68SW 2
NGR NR 60901 82204
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38657
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Jura
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR68SW 2 6089 8220.
(NR 6089 8221) Standing Stone (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
This standing stone is situated within the graveyard at Tarbert (described on NR68SW 4). It is about 7ft high, 2 ft wide and 1 1/2ft thick. In front of it, undoubtedly acting as a headstone, is a pointed stone, about 1 1/2 ft high. The larger stone bears an incised cross on its E face; this cross is so weathered and lichen-encrusted that its dimensions cannot be accurately measured. (The ONB and Budge note an incised cross on each side; it is traditionally thought to have been a sanctuary stone).
E H Rideout 1932; Name Book 1878; D Budge 1960
One of the stones at Tarbert (presumably this one) is called "Carragh Chaluim Bhain", i.e. the standing stone of Calum the fair, almost certainly a reference to St Columba.
H C Gillies 1906
Field Visit (25 May 1978)
This standing stone (the name of which could not be verified) stands 2.0m high by 0.5m broad and 0.1m thick. It is orientated N-S and slightly inclined to the E. Both faces have an incised cross 1.0m long and 0.5m across, extending to the limits of the stone. The cross on the E side is the better preserved. No trace of the "pointed stone" was seen.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (JB) 25 May 1978
Field Visit (May 1981)
The remains of this chapel, which was dedicated to St Columba (Gaelic, Calum Cille), are situated on level ground about 130m N of Tarbert Bay. The walls of the existing rectangular enclosure appear to be of 19th-century date, and there are no identifiable remains of an earlier enclosure. The chapel measures 7.8m from E to W by 3.4m transversely within walls about 1m thick whose inner face is preserved to an average height of 0.9m. Entrance was by a doorway 0.8m wide in the S wall, and against the E wall there are traces of the base of an altar.
The burial-ground contains a number of uninscribed slabs of slate and simple upright grave-markers, the earliest inscribed stone dating from 1809. Local tradition records the discovery of 'stone coffins and tombs in the vicinity of the chapel and of the standing stone (NR68SW 2, RCAHMS 1984, No. 122), but the precise location and nature of these burials are not known.
Cross-Marked Stone. Some 8m W of the chapel, and just inside the W boundary of the enclosure, there is a standing stone of local green schist measuring 0.43m by 0.13m at the base and 1.9m in height. This stone may be of prehistoric origin, like that situated 290m to the WNW (NR68SW 2), but it is doubtful whether it is in situ. Both faces bear sunken Latin crosses, 1.0m in height and rising from slightly expanded bases. The cross on the E face (a) is formed by shallow grooves 70mm wide, with the intersection of the arms left uncut as a simple square boss, while that on the W face (b) has been severely damaged by flaking.
Tobar Chaluim Chille ('St Columba's Well'). This well, described in 1878 as 'a spring in rock . . . a few chains south east' of the chapel, could not be identified at the date of visit in the position apparently indicated on the Ordnance Survey map (NR 610 821). (Ordnance Survey Name Book Argyllshire, sheet 178, 1897-8) A small marshy spring is situated about 5m S of the SE angle of the burial-ground.
RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1981.
Measured Survey (1981 - 1982)
RCAHMS surveyed the chapel at Cill Chaluim Cille at a scale of 1:100, and produced a detailed drawings of both faces of the cross-marked stone. Each of the drawings was reproduced in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1984, figs. 162A-C).
Reference (2001)
Chapel of St Columba in rectangular enclosure. A standing stone, 1.9m by 0.43m by 0.13m, bears on each face a sunken Latin cross 1.0m high with an expanded base and square central boss.
I Fisher 2001.
