Site Report

WoSASPIN 5324
NS17NE 7 1633 7917.

(NS 1633 7916) Burial Ground (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)

A small piece of ground said to have been used as a burying ground and to have contained a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It contains the grave of MacGregor of Glenstrae, near Glenorchy, the subject of a local tragic tradition.
NSA 1845

A series of excavations undertaken at this site since 1964 by members of the Cowal Archaeological Society, has revealed the foundations of a small rectangular building measuring internally 5.3m x 3.4m with wall thickness of 0.8m and 0.5m high. There is a doorway 1.1m wide near the W end of the S wall, but there is strong evidence of an earlier doorway in the W gable.
There is an altar 1.8m x 1.2m and 0.4m high at the E end, and cruck slots at each corner. The altar and chapel dimensions suggest a 7th or 8th century date, but the cruck holes suggest a later date-cruck building did not come into the country until after arrival of the Vikings (M Paterson 1970).
The chapel is situated within an irregular enclosure, or cashel, roughly pentagonal in shape and almost half an acre in area.
On an area 7m to the N, a cobbled floor has produced pottery of the 14th and 15 centuries. Underlying parts of this area is a rectangular floor with very rounded corners, measuring 7.3m x 5.5m delineated by a trench 46 cms x 23 cms. This floor contains post holes, but no associated pottery.
Evidence of an earlier stone and possibly and even earlier wooden chapel, has been uncovered to the W of the chapel. Excavation here has established four periods of medieval occupation. Two cobbled floors produced 14th - 15th century pottery, and partly overlay the floor of a well- constructed building measuring 7.3m x 5.5m whose post hole plan has been fully recovered. This floor overlies another small hut floor measuring 3.3m x 3.4m.
The medieval levels are themselves over a variety of structures:
1. a collapsed stone structure resembling a bee-hive cell.
2. a pit 1m x 0.65m x 0.55m deep which contained fine black soil with paving below.
3. 4 large post holes forming a square of approximately 60 cms within which was a pit 30 cms in diameter and 40 cms deep. This has been interpreted as a shrine with reliquary pit.
Within the enclosure there are 5 large, and numerous small grave-marker stones with traces of early pecked and incised crosses.
Excavation in 1974 found that under the E end of the "well-constructed building", and adjacent to the door of the chapel, was a hard-packed flat area 5m in diameter containing a socket of large stones forming a hole 30 cms x 15 cms x 35 cms deep (possibly the preaching stance and socket for the cross).
To the N of the "four large post holes", and ante-dating them, was a stone-lined pit 2.7m long x 80 cms broad and 30 cms deep, containing fine black soil (suggesting a cooking pit).
The floor of a circular hut 3m in diameter was near this pit, but one level below it. Underlying all these structures, are the sockets for the posts of a circular structure 9m in diameter, and part of two concentric rings of post holes. The circular structure may be of Iron Age date, possibly contemporary with the dyke enclosing the whole Ardnadam site (see NS17NE 9).
Cowal Archaeol Soc 1964; 1967; 1970; 1972; 1973; 1974

The chapel and burial ground remain generally as described in the previous information. Evidence of other structures (apart from the chapel) discovered during excavation are not readily identifiable and cannot be surveyed. The excavation is still exposed.
Surveyed at 1:2500
Visited by OS (BS) 8 December 1976

Excavations have produced evidence of successive occupations dating back to the Neolithic period. A radio-carbon date of BP 4740 +/- 90
was obtained from charcoal taken from one of the hearths.
E Rennie 1975; 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979; 1980; 1981; 1982
The site lies on an alluvial fan on the N bank of Eas a' Chaibeil, at the foot of the steep slope of Dunloskin Wood and 0.6km NW of Loch Loskin. Excavations by the Cowal Archaeological Society revealed a long sequence of occupation, extending back to the Neolithic period, and the earlier phases have been dealt with in Argyll 6 (RCAHMS 1988).
The area is enclosed by an earthen bank containing a core of boulders and its course is markedly irregular, and stratigraphical evidence in the W sector suggested that it was at least in part of Iron Age origin, although it was probably refurbished for ecclesiastical use.
In the NE quarter of the enclosure there stands a drystone chapel, 5.5m from E to W by 3.5m within walls up to 0.6m in height. The NWangle appears rounded as the facing-stones above the footings have vanished, whereas the rounded SW angle is probably the result of later rebuilding along with the adjacent S doorway. There are surviving traces of four vertical sockets excavated in the walls at the angles of the building, but these cannot be identified as cruck-slots although they may have had some connection with the roof-structure.
Forty shallow oval pits were discovered W of the chapel. The chronological relationship of the graves to the chapel was not clear, but many were marked by small upright stones, only a few of which were decorated (see archive).
It is probable that the site had passed out of ecclesiastical use by the medieval period, for a rectangular 'roofed shelter' about 7m long was built W of the chapel, and a small oval bloomery hearth was constructed near the NW enclosure-wall. Neither structure produced the abundant green-glazed medieval pottery that was associated with a rectangular structure, about 9m from N to S by 6m, having light stone walls which were interpreted as supporting a turf superstructure. This was situated about 7m W of the chapel, and 6m to the S there was a paved 'working area' with a hearth and a path leading towards the Eas a' Chaibeil.
The Cross-Marked stones are now in the care of the Cowal Archaeological Society. One slab, (RCAHMS 1992, No.5, 48, B [1]) has one straight and one curved edge with a natural notch in the bottom. On one face (a) which has several natural hollows caused by mineral inclusions, there is a much-worn pecked cross, the sides and possibly the top arm having crosslet terminals formed by slightly shallower grooves. The bottom is interrupted by a natural hollow. On face b there is, near the top, a lightly-pecked Latin cross 140mm high and 75mm wide. Some other slight cuts on this face are of accidental origin.
A small irregular slab (RCAHMS 1992, No.5, 48, C [2]), with on one face a long curving groove, possibly natural, which is intersected by a thin inclusion to form a simple cross.
A roughly rectangular slab (RCAHMS 1992, No.5, 48, D [3]), with one edge apparently damaged, but the other bears two notches forming a non-projecting 'cross-arm' about 85mm high. This is a simple example of a type of minimal cruciform stone found on Iona and on Skellig Michael (Co Kerry).
Visited by RCAHMS, May 1988
RCAHMS 1992

Early chapel in large ovoid enclosure. Excavation revealed many grave-pits, most of small size, with plain markers. The following stones are in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow.
(1) Slab with one straight and one curved edge, 0.56m by 0.30m. Face (a) bears a much-worn pecked cross with crosslet terminals in the upper arms. On face (b) is a lightly-pecked Latin cross 0.14m high and 75mm wide.
(2) Irregular slab, 0.26m by 0.16m by 30mm. On one face a long curving groove, possibly natural, is intersected by a thin incision to form a simple cross.
(3) Roughly rectangular slab, 0.55m by 0.18m by 65mm. One edge is damaged, but the other bears two notches forming a minimal cross-arm about 85mm high.
I Fisher 2001.

The Ardnadam Chapel and Burial Ground (SM No. 3235, RCAHMS No.NS17NE 7) was visited and the Scheduled Area surveyed by DGPS. A wooden pylon lies close to the surrounding enclosure. This was later cut down in sections to avoid damage to the monument
Suddaby, I., CFA Archaeology Ltd, 'Archaeological Mitigation Works: Overhead Line, Dunloskin Wood, Dunoon, Argyll & Bute' (2013)