Ardrishaig, Kilduskland

NR88NE 7.01 c.853 865

An album of drawings by the antiquary H D Graham, dating from the 1850s, includes this 'Child's Tombstone at Ardrishaig called an Iona stone but probably from Kildusclan an old Kill cut thro' by the Crinan Canal' (Graham 1850). The whereabouts of this stone is unknown, and it is uncertain whether the lost Kilduskland burial-ground was close to the surviving Campbell burial-enclosure (NR88NE 45). In 1889 it was reported that workmen had unearthed 'several specimens of curiously carved stones, on the hillside above the village' (Campbeltown Courier 26 October 1889). They were said to be of schist, and supposed to be portions of medieval effigies, but no examples were preserved and the site is not known.

Graham's drawing does not indicate the dimensions of the slab, which is shown as tapered, but it was probably about 1m in length. It bore the incised outline of a ringed cross with square foot, rounded armpits and short arms, the side-arms hardly extending beyond the broad ring. Although the neat tapered outline of the slab is not characteristic of Early Christian carvings, the form of the cross resembles several on slabs at Iona (RCAHMS 1982), and a date between the 8th and 10th century is probable.

RCAHMS 1992

A drawing by H D Graham (album in NMRS), dating from the 1850s, shows a 'Child's Tombstone at Ardrishaig', possibly from the lost Kilduskland burial-ground. It was tapered and probably about 1m in length. It bore an outline ringed cross with square foot, circular sunken armpits and short arms.

I Fisher 2001.