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MHG13981 - Souterrain - Craig Cairn-Na-Bhodachd (Carn nam Bodach)

Summary

A souterrain at Craig Cairn-Na-Bhodachd (Carn nam Bodach), Skye.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A souterrain at Craig Cairn-Na-Bhodachd (Carn nam Bodach), Skye.

NG55NW 4 unlocated.

An earth-house was discovered about 3rd July, 1913, by workmen digging for gravel for the new road from Portree to Staffin, and partially destroyed before being reported. It ran almost parallel and 59 ft. to the W of the road, Craig Carn-na-Bhodachd (the old man's cairn) rising about 200 yards behind it, and was of undressed drystone construction. Before disturbed, the main chamber measured 36ft in length, giving, with the entrance tunnel, a total length of at least 70ft For the greater part the chamber measured 5ft 5ins - 4ft 4ins or so in height and about 3ft 6ins in width. About 15ft from the inner end the wall on the W side had bulged in considerably, some of the stones being quite loose, and beyond that for about the last 9ft it contracted to a width of about 2ft, the end being blocked by a round stone with a flat stone above it. Whether the latter had fallen from the roof, or whether there was an entrance at this end, it is impossible to say without excavation.

A quantity of bones of horse, ox, pig and red-deer were found together with limpet shells, a probable hammer-stone and many fragments of coarse hand-made pottery with inverted rims, and one piece showing some ornamentation in the form of a thin raised wavy line; also half of an iron hinge attached to a small piece of wood. The pottery bears a slight resemblance to pottery from the brochs, but the latter shows better paste and finish and a rim not so sharply recurved. The finds have been presented to the Hunterain Museum, Glasgow. <1>

This earth-house was not found and local enquiries were negative, including the Resident Engineer's Office, Portree.
Visited by OS (A C) 5 April 1961.

The site was included in a discussion and in an inventory of souterrains on Skye by R Miket. As the site was still unlocated, there was no information to add. <2>

Sherds from a vessel from the site are listed in the Hunterian Museum Catalogue. Acc. No. GLAHM:B.1914.528. <3>

NOTE: It is difficult to pinpoint an accurate location for this site even with the description in <1> as none of the placenames mentioned have been included on OS mapping and are difficult to reconcile with the current topography. The original NGR on the old Highland SMR record was placed on the corner of an OS grid aquare some distance from the likely location. RCHAMS (now HES) Canmore place it, again on a grid square corner (albeit a bit closer), at NG512 552 (as also given in <2>), but this is unsatisfactory given the description in <1>. The only place where a distance of (quoting <1>) 400 yards from the site to the sudden drop of 550 feet to the seashore anywhere near to any kind of rocky slope and/or mound and anything resembling an easterly pointing ridge and 59 feet from the road would put it somewhere around NGR 151432 854965. This would appear to be on fairly level, albeit sloping, ground between the road (which is lower to the east) and the foot of the rockier areas. On vertical aerial photography, roughly west of this point is an area that looks like it could have been a rock extraction area. This NGR has been used for the current location and spatial extent [IS-L 08/07/2024].

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 5143 5496 (28m by 28m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG55SW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	SNIZORT

Finds (1)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (3)