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MHG29240 - Souterrain - Kilvaxter

Summary

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Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A souterrain at Kilvaxter discovered by the local farmer when one of the lintels collapsed exposing the chamber. It was excavated under the direction of R Miket for Kilmuir Community Council in the summer of 2000. It has since been stabilised and re-covered. Interpretation panels have been installed and it is open for public access.

Site remains partially excavated and has been partially backfilled. Exposed stonework. Lintels have been roughly secured (consolidation by M Wildgoose) but remain in danger of collapse.
(site visit KC/JW Oct 02)

This souterrain was discovered in April 2000, when a lintel collapsed. At the time of writing, excavation was in progress to make the monument publicly accessible; therefore the information available so far is limited and interim in nature. The souterrain lay within the north-eastern quadrant of a small stone-wall enclosed field which was previously ploughed. Within 10m north of the souterrain lay the remains of a degraded, but prominent, circular homestead (see MHG61116). It lay on the eastern, leeward, slope of a ridge with its simple butt-ended terminal lying just below the crest. It ran for a distance of some 17m in a sinuous course from north-north-west to south-south-east, partially following the contour, and constructed to respect the adjacent homestead.

The sidewalls were constructed of random rubble (local basalt and water-worn `flags') and supported massive lintels c.1.8m in length. The lintels were fixed in place by stones jammed between their butt-ends and the natural clay side. These edges were luted with clay, to prevent water penetration, and stones were driven into the interstices between the lintels to hinder earth trickling down into the interior. One such pinning stone carried a single cup-mark. The lintels were then covered in soil to level the ground surface, using the spoil from cutting the souterrain trench. The gallery attained a maximum height of 1.6m from its rotted bedrock floor to the underside of the lintels where the main gallery met the satellite gallery. The lintels were set at right-angles to the line of the main gallery and were supported upon cross-lintels at either side. Elsewhere the lintels rested upon the wall-heads which, in some instances, were corbelled inwards. The short satellite passage rose up the slope, its lintels raised to a higher level than those of the main gallery, which varied in width from 0.75m to c.1m.

Contemporary with the souterrain was a well cobbled and kerbed `yard' running down-slope from the foot of the bank in which the souterrain had been constructed. A cup-marked stone was associated with the kerbing. Another three cup-marked stones were found in the vicinity, none in direct association with the souterrain. The site also exhibited medieval and post-medieval occupation. The former was represented by a platform of large boulders associated with a small mid-thirteenth-century coin hoard, and the latter by a post-medieval settlement of houses and byres. <1>

Final report and/or publicaion still awaited as of 21/06/2024.

Sources/Archives (1)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 3899 6962 (24m by 19m)
Map sheet	NG36NE
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	KILMUIR

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