Monument record 1225 - CLADH MANACH, BORERAY

NF88SE 3 8558 8050.

(NF 8558 8050) Cladh Manach (NR) Burial Ground (Disused): Sculptured Stones (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Cladh Manach, a burial ground called the 'Monks Field' where, it is alleged, were buried 'all the monks that died in the islands that lie northward of Eigg.' The graves are marked with stones at both ends (M Martin 1934) In 1877 the Name Book records (i) that this very ancient burial ground is disused and the greater part under cultivation, and (ii) there are two stones, 1ft high, with crosses cut on them, apparently at the head of graves. The Name Book (1877) also notes a cup-marked rock about 3 chains west of the burial ground, with 3 cup-marks, but RCAHMS (1928) and Lyford-Pike (1941) say there are 4 and 5 respectively. (The incised cross-slabs and the cup-marked rock are together described as 'sculptured stones' in the Name Book 1877).
When Beveridge (E Beveridge 1911) visited the site he saw the two 'narrow oblong slabs', one bearing an incised cross. He suggested the graveyard was attached to a chapel, if not a monastery.
(For a discussion of small grave-markers which he dates 6-7th cent., see C Thomas, 'Ardwall Isle: The Excavation of an Early Christian Site': Trans Dumfries Galloway Natur Hist Soc 1966, vol. 43, 101-2)
M Martin 1934; Name Book 1877; E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928; Lyford-Pike 1941.

There is now little trace of Cladh Manach, but the two grave-markers survive.
At NF 8552 8051 there is a small outcrop rock with 5 well-defined cup-marks 1.0m to the S there is a small area of exposed rock with one small cup-mark.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 29 June 1965.

A small exposure of bed-rock 1m x 0.80m is marked with 5-6 cups, the largest of which is 140mm diameter x 80mm deep.
Visited by RCAHMS (IGS) 19 May 1988.

Martin Martin, 1695a, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695, 68 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5082.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 301 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 51, No. 168 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

J D Lyford-Pike, 1940-1, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 128 illust. (Bibliographic reference). SWE4252.

Name Book (County), 1998, Name Books of the Ordnance Survey, Book No. 6, 6 (Unpublished document). SWE4254.