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MHG12225 - Baile na Cille

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Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

NC03SE 2 0845 3421.

(NC 0845 3421) Grave Yard (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Sutherland, 2nd ed., (1907)

At Baile na Cille, Oldany Island, ancient burial ground with graves outlined with flat stones, and in some instances with similar stones placed upon them. At back of burial ground, against hill, are ruins of rude structure outlined with great slabs of rock placed on end, largest 3' high, 3' broad and 1' thick. It is roughly rectangular and lies almost N-S, measuring internally some 12' by 10' with an entrance from E. Attached to it is a smaller building c13' long by 8' wide with a circular structure, possibly an oven, in NE corner about 3' high and 5' diameter. In vicinity are remains of several small circular and oval huts of 5' or 6' in diameter. RCAHMS 1911.

On Oldany Island, adjacent to burial ground is a considerable cairn of stones which may originally have been a temple; in cairn is to be seen a hollowed stone having a lid or cover of stone. The author recounts local tale that until c.18th century this hollowed stone contained a brightly coloured round stone which was held in great veneration by people and which was shown to strangers as an object of curiosity. Consequently he considers the site Pagan and the hollow lidded stone 'not a Popish font'.
OSA 1795.

In 1793 there was a burial ground on Oldany Island which may have been site of a chapel. (Symbols for a cairn, chapel and cemetery shown on map of Oldany Island).
Orig Paroch Scot 1855.

Described as 'Burial Place'. J Home 1774-5.

The burial ground, situated on a natural shelf, is enclosed on the NW by rock face and on other sides by a crude stone wall, augmented with natural outcrop. A small rectangle, at the North end, is covered with rubble and probably defines the area of graves. Two shielings (presumably the 'huts' described by RCAHMS {RCAHMS 1911}) were identified in the vicinity; the Easterly one surmounts a small, stone-scattered knoll, quite natural but possibly the 'cairn' site of the OSA. (OSA 1795) The ruins dimensioned by RCAHMS (RCAHMS 1911) could not be specifically identified from two possible, but totally amorphous sites.
Visited by OS (F R H) 23 May 1962; RCAHMS 1911; OSA 1795.

The burial ground at NC 0846 3420 and the shielings are generally as described by the previous field investigator. The rubble boundary wall encloses an area 28.0 m NW-SE by 18.0 m. The wall is ill-defined in NE and SE; in SW it survives to 1.5 m wide and 0.4 m high. At N end of burial ground there is an amorphous area of stone 11m by 10m among which are the 'flat stones' noted by RCAHMS; it is possible the structures noted by the RCAHMS stood here. Two or three natural stony mounds occur in the vicinity, and standing in the burial ground has had stone dumped on it. No trace of a covered, hollowed stone was found during investigation.
Revised at 1:10,000. Visited by OS (J B) 5 August 1980.

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 0845 3421 (200m by 200m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC03SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ASSYNT

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