WoSAS Pin: 2516

Site Name: Cnoc nan Gall, Colonsay

Alternative Name(s):

Monument Type: Viking Burial (possible)

Council: Argyll and Bute

Parish: Colonsay and Oronsay

Map Sheet: NR39SE

Grid Reference: 135800, 693200

Canmore Number: 37922

Non-Statutory Register Code: N

Site Report

WoSASPIN 2516
NR39SE 46 c.358 932.

In 1902 a number of iron clench-nails, a human tooth and a horse tooth were found in the sand-dunes at Cnoc nan Gall; the assemblage has been described as the remains of a Viking burial, but the circumstances of its discovery make it impossible to be certain. The objects are preserved in Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum.
RCAHMS 1984, visited June 1978; The Glasgow Herald, 7 August 1936; S Grieg 1940; J N G Ritchie 1982

The name Cnoc nan Gall applies to an area of machair formerly used as a golf course. There is no local knowledge of this discovery, but see NR39SE 26 and 47 for other burials in this area.
Visited by OS 20 April 1974.

Further Reading and Sources

Ritchie, J N G , 'Excavations at Machrins, Colonsay', PSAS, Vol 111, 1981, pp.263-81.(1982)

RCAHMS , The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments Vol 5: Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay. Edinburgh.(1984)

Grieg, S , Viking antiquities in Scotland. Oslo.(1940)