Sanday, Suileabhaig, 'viking Burials'
Kelp Kiln (Post Medieval)
Site Name Sanday, Suileabhaig, 'viking Burials'
Classification Kelp Kiln (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Sean Dun; Canna
Canmore ID 10758
Site Number NG20SE 4
NGR NG 2811 0405
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10758
- Council Highland
- Parish Small Isles
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG20SE 4 2811 0405
(Area: NG 281 041) A Viking burial similar to that at Rudha Langaninnis, and probably 9th century, (see NG20NW 3) lies beneath the NW base of the knoll Sean Dun, Sanday. It is unorientated and its setting is determined by the lie of the ground. It is 17' x 4' 6" within the kerb (RCAHMS 1928).
There is another (15' x 4') on a lower level c. 100 yards SW, as well as numerous circular hut sites, and to the N, on the raised beach, is a large mound, probably a wheelhouse.
Lethbridge states that none of the boat-shaped, so- called Viking burials on Sanday is convincing, (private 6"map, annotated by T C Lethbridge, 1953) and Rivet considers they are more probably kelp-drying kilns (OS 6"map, annotated by A L F Rivet (assistant archaeology officer).
RCAHMS 1928.
Situated at NG 2810 0402 and measuring 5.0m ENE-WSW by 1.0m. Its WSW end is formed by a boulder the other end being mutilated.
Lethbridge's siting is confusing but he may be refering to NG20SE 11, and his large mound may be NG20SE 15 as there is no trace of another mound along this shore. This 'numerous circular hut sites' is probably a reference to the numerous shieling-type structures that occur in this area.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (I S S) 29 May 1972.
(Formerly classified as kelp kilns; location amended to NG 2811 0405). A small narrow structure is located on the rocky foreshore to the NW of the fort (NG20SE 10) on Sean Dun. Rectangular on plan, it measures 5.9m from NE to SW by 1.9m transversely overall, and is defined by two parallel rows of small boulders. The structure has been heavily disturbed, and most of the stones on the E side and the NE end have been pulled out of place; a boulder forming the SW end remains in situ. The location of the structure is in keeping with an interpretion as a kelp kiln, but it does not appear to be that noted by RCAHMS in 1928, which was described as 'lying beneath the north-west base of the knoll Sean Dun', where nothing was visible here on the date of visit.
The locations of the numerous huts and a large mound recorded by Lethbridge in the vicinity are difficult to reconcile in detail with the structures recorded in the course of the survey, and it is unlikely that the mound recorded by Lethbridge is the remains of a wheel-house.
(Canna 389).
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 6 June 1994.
Field Visit (4 July 1925 - 6 July 1925)
Viking Burials.
On the strip of machair below the cliffs at Rudha Langaninnis is a setting of stones (Fig. 310), which has formed the kerb of a burial cairn of a type hitherto unnoted in these Inventories. One similar occurs in Arran, where excavation exposed, amongst other relics, incinerated bones and boat rivets and a coin of the 9th century, a styca of Wigmund (A.D. 831-854), Archbishop of York. Another burial of this kind was located in Colonsay, and yielded, on being explored, skeletal remains both human and of a horse, boat rivets and clinker nails, weapons and three stycas, the latest issued by Wigmund (1). The Langaninnis burial has been despoiled and the kerb only remains, enclosing an area 32 feet from north-west to south-east by 6½ feet from north-east to south-west. The end nearest the sea is slightly rounded, the other end is fairly rectangular, and there may be a small outer chamber beyond it, as in the Arran burial. The kerb is formed of detritus, smallish stones about 18 inches in diameter and height above ground, set fairly close together.
Three other burials of similar type were noted in the adjoining island of Sanday. The first,200 yards east of Ant-Oban, measures 41 feet by 4 feet within the kerb; the second, lying beneath the north-west base of the knoll Sean Dun and overlooking Ant-Oban, measures 17 feet by 4½ feet; and the third, lying about 100 yards east of the stack Dun Beag, measures 17 feet by 4 feet 4 inches. These graves are unorientated, and their setting is determined by the lie of the ground.
(1) Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., XLI., 443
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 and 6 July 1925.
OS map: Island of Canna liii and liv ; and Islands of Rum, Sanday, etc. (Inverness-shire), lx (unnoted).
Field Visit (29 May 1972)
Situated at NG 2810 0402 and measuring 5.0m ENE-WSW by 1.0m. Its WSW end is formed by a boulder the other end being mutilated.
Lethbridge's siting is confusing but he may be refering to NG20SE 11, and his large mound may be NG20SE 15 as there is no trace of another mound along this shore. This 'numerous circular hut sites' is probably a reference to the numerous shieling-type structures that occur in this area.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (I S S) 29 May 1972.
Field Visit (6 June 1994)
(Formerly classified as kelp kilns; location amended to NG 2811 0405). A small narrow structure is located on the rocky foreshore to the NW of the fort (NG20SE 10) on Sean Dun. Rectangular on plan, it measures 5.9m from NE to SW by 1.9m transversely overall, and is defined by two parallel rows of small boulders. The structure has been heavily disturbed, and most of the stones on the E side and the NE end have been pulled out of place; a boulder forming the SW end remains in situ. The location of the structure is in keeping with an interpretion as a kelp kiln, but it does not appear to be that noted by RCAHMS in 1928, which was described as 'lying beneath the north-west base of the knoll Sean Dun', where nothing was visible here on the date of visit.
The locations of the numerous huts and a large mound recorded by Lethbridge in the vicinity are difficult to reconcile in detail with the structures recorded in the course of the survey, and it is unlikely that the mound recorded by Lethbridge is the remains of a wheel-house.
(Canna 389).
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 6 June 1994.
