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.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM5878_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600011775)

Summary

Description

The monument consists of the remains of an early Christian monastic settlement, overlying traces of a prehistoric settlement, on an almost inaccessible rock stack.

The monument stands on a 20m-high rock stack, separated by a deep cleft from the adjacent cliff-top. Excavation below the later structures has recovered pottery of possible Neolithic date, but no other traces of prehistoric settlement are visible on the surface. The visible features are the remains of an enclosure containing a pair of linked cells, probably an early Christian eremitical or monastic establishment.

The cells stand at the SE corner of the summit of the stack. An almost circular foundation, some 3.1m in diameter and with a single wall niche, is connected by a passage 3m long and 0.6m wide to a rectangular foundation lying to the NE. The latter measures 2.6m by 1.7m internally. The entrance to both stuctures is by the linking passage, into which a doorway opens from its SE side opposite a large recess in its wall. The SW, circular, cell may have had a corbelled roof, and the passage was probably lintelled. The cells lie on the S side of an oval enclosure formed by a substantial wall, now reduced to turf-covered foundations.

The area to be scheduled consists of the whole summit area of the rock stack, and measures a maximum of 80m E-W by 70m, to include the cells and enclosure and an area around them in which traces of activity associated with their construction and use, and with the earlier settlement, may survive. The area is marked in red on the accompanying map.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as an early Christian monastic establishment occupying the site of an earlier settlement. As such it has the potential, through excavation and analysis, to provide information about the successive users of the site, and in particular about the date and material culture of the many remote stack and island sites frequently referred, on little good evidence, to the Early Christian and/or pre-Norse Christian periods.

References

Bibliography

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.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.