St Cuthbert's Church, Haster

ND35SW 8 3300 5026.

(ND 3300 5026) St Cuthbert's Church (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map, (1968)

(ND 3300 5026) St Cuthbert's Chapel (remains of)

OS 1;10,000 map, (1994)

St Cuthbert's Church, or Chapel of Haster, appears to have been a chancelled building measuring 40 by 14ft internally with the chancel wall about 13ft from the E end, but no wall faces are exposed, so the measurements are approximate. It is noted in 1726 as the 'Chapell of Haulster - the common people bury their dead about it'.

W Macfarlane 1906-8; RCAHMS 1911.

There are evidences (not stated) that there were other buildings beside the chapel, and the remains of what was possibly the foundation of a wall enclosing the burial place can still be traced.

D Beaton 1909.

Generally as described by the RCAHMS, the footings of St Cuthbert's Chapel consist of turf-covered walls 0.4m high and measuring on plan 14.0 by 7.0m. Stones piled in the interior are probably the result of field clearance. To the S is the outline of another building, measuring 11.0 by 5.0m and 0.1m high. There is no trace of a wall bounding a grave yard.

Revised at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (R D L) 26 April 1963.

St Cuthbert's Chapel is on the summit of a thickly overgrown uncultivated rise in a field, showing as a rectangular depression edged with rubble stones. The depression is aligned E-W and measures some 14.0 by 7.0m across by 0.4m deep. Field clearance has been dumped in the depression and on the rise generally. No other building remains were noticed and there is no sign of a graveyard wall.

Revised at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (J M) 27 July 1982.

An unroofed building, which is aligned E-W, is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxiv) and it is shown as a ruin on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map (1994) annotated as 'St Cuthbert's Chapel (remains of)'.

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 22 January 1996