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| Canmore ID |
10335 |
SCRAP ID |
1024 |
| Location OS Grid Ref: |
NF 83512 78668
|
Team |
Not in team
|
|
Existing Classifications
|
| Classification |
Period |
| WELL |
PERIOD UNASSIGNED |
| CUP MARKED STONE |
PREHISTORIC |
| CROSS INCISED ROCK |
EARLY MEDIEVAL |
|
| Date Fieldwork Started |
01/06/2019 |
Date Fieldwork Completed |
|
| New Panel? |
No |
|
A1. Identifiers
| Panel Name |
NORTH UIST, AIRD A' MHORAIN |
Number |
|
| Other names |
|
| HER/SMR |
|
SM Number |
|
Other |
|
Classifications And Periods
| Classification 1 |
Natural Feature |
Period 1 |
Period Unassigned |
County
INVERNESS-SHIRE
A2. Grid Reference(original find site)
| OS NGR |
NF |
83500 |
78600 |
| New OS NGR |
NF |
83512 |
78668 |
| Lat/Long |
57.68607 |
-7.31269 |
| Obtained By: |
GPS
|
A3. Current Location & Provenance
| Located |
|
| Accession no. |
Not given |
B1. Landscape Context
| Weather |
Cloudy
|
| Position in landscape |
Bottom of hill |
| Topography(terrain within about 500m of panel.) |
Flat |
| Aspect of slope (if on sloping terrain e.g. S, SE etc.) |
|
B2. Current land use & vegetation
Other:Beach
B3. Forestry
B4. Archaeological Features within 200m / or visible from the panel
Other: Rock engraving of cross
B5. Location Notes
The cross and well are as described. A boulder located about 6m to the SE of the cross in a roughly arranged semi-circle of stones has at least 19 well-formed circular hollows of different dimensions and several shallow, less well-defined sub-circular features on its sloping surface. A further 3m to the SE are two rounded low-lying rock outcrops immediately adjacent to each other, both with similar circular hollows. The hollows form a SE-NW alignment along the top of the more northerly of these outcrops. There are similar depressions on various other outcrops and stones along the shore line to the E. All are almost certainly natural features, possibly caused by tidal action.
Previous Notes
NF87NW 3 835 786.
(NF 8353 7868) A small well, variously known as 'of the Priest', 'of the Cross' and 'of the cups' is situated on the beach, 200 yards west of the graveyard of Ard a'Bhorain (NF87NW 16). It is at the base of a massive rock just above HWM, on the face of which a Latin cross, 14ins long, is inscribed. The well still functions.
Nine yards to the SE are 24 cupmarks arranged along the twin narrow and parallel ridges of a boulder embedded in the beach. Other cupmarks are said to exist, both above the well and on various stones at the NE side of the same promontory but Beveridge was unable to find them.
E Beveridge 1911.
The headland of Aird a' Mhorain ('headland of the bent-grass'), some 40m in height, projects into the Sound of Harris at the NE end of a promontory about 4km long. Above the rocky shore at the SE angle of the headland there is a burial-ground containing the 18th-century family enclosure of the MacLeans of Boreray.(NF87NW 16) Some 200m to the W, and associated with a well which is now obscured by shingle, there is a rock-cut cross. It lies at the junction of the rocky foreshore with a shingle beach to the W, near a convenient area for landing small boats.
The cross is incised at the base of an irregular outcrop of gneiss, on a vertical rock-face which is washed by the highest spring tides. Although waterworn, its V-section grooves remain fairly clear except at the foot of the shaft. It is of Latin form, measuring 0.37m by 0.18m across the arms, and the terminals are triangular except for the less distinct expansion at the foot of the shaft.
Footnote:
(i) The well was immediately below the cross (RCAHMS 1928, No.165). It was variously known as the well 'of the priest', 'of the cross' or 'of the cups', and had been a place of pilgrimage (PSAS, 16 (1881-2), 400-1; E Beveridge 1911, 300). The adjacent cup-marks appear to be largely natural in origin.
E Beveridge 1911, 300 and pl. opp. p.300; RCAHMS 1928, No.165 and fig.102.
I Fisher 2001. 111.
The incised cross at NF 8350 7869, at the side of the 'Well of the Priest', and the cupmarked stone at NF 8351 7868 are as described above and as photographed. The well is now filled with stones and is no longer functional.
Another cupmarked stone, measuring 3.0m x 1.2m x 1.1m was found at NF 8353 7869. It bears eleven distinct cups at its north end and a possible twelfth at its southern end. None of the cupmarks on these stones is regular in size or depth and they may be natural.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (R D) 20 June 1965.
C1. Panel Type
C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation
Dimensions of panel (m to one decimal place)
| Length (longer axis) |
|
Width |
|
| Height (max) |
|
Height (min) |
|
Approximate slope of carved surface
Orientation (Aspect e.g. NW)
| Rock Surface |
|
Carved Surface |
|
Carved Surface |
|
C3. Rock Surface
| Surface Compactness |
No selection
|
Grain Size |
No selection
|
Visible Anomalies |
No selection
|
Rock Type |
No selection
|
C4. Surface Features
C5. Panel Notes
No notes added
C6. Probability
The probability that there is any rock art on the panel is
not mentioned
Comments
No comments added
C7. MOTIFS
Visible Tool Marks? No
Visible Peck Marks? No
D1. Access
D2. Awareness
There are stories or folk traditions associated with this panel No
D3. Risk
Natural
Animal
Human
Comments and other potential threats
No comments added
