Scheduled Monument
Oronsay Priory and CrossSM287
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 28/04/1920
- Last Date Amended
- 31/07/1992
- Type
- Crosses and carved stones: cross (free-standing); sculptured stone (not ascribed to a more specific type); tombstone, Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church; priory
- Local Authority
- Argyll And Bute
- Parish
- Colonsay And Oronsay
- NGR
- NR 34969 88934
- Coordinates
- 134969, 688934
Description
The ruins of an Augustinian priory, founded by John I, Lord of the Isles, sometime between 1325 and 1353, with later works, including a church, cloister, conventual buildings, prior's house and burial aisles, extending into the early 1500s, with some futher burial enclosures added as late as the 19th century. The scheduling includes all these features, as well as the cross of c.1500 standing SW of the church, the collection of sculptured graveslabs, effigies and crosses contained within the prior's house or set within the priory enclosure, and all above and below ground features enclosed by the boundary wall, but excluding the wall itself, as indicated in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance because of the evidence that it provides, and has the potential to provide by archaeological excavation, for late medieval church history, ecclesiastical architecture, sculpture, burial practices and material culture in general in the west Scotland.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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