Monument record 2271 - BORNISH, BEINN NA MHIC AONGHEIS

NF72NW 30 735 299

NF 735 299 Two trenches were excavated in June 1996 to ascertain whether this large grassy knoll (Site 89) is the location of the medieval and post-medieval settlement of Upper Bornish. This is, according to oral tradition, the site of the 19th-century tacksman's house between Bornish House and Bornish Church. Previous excavations at Bornish House had failed to reveal any real trace of medieval activity (Parker Pearson and Roper 1995).
The W trench was shallow and came down to bedrock within 0.3m of the surface. Nevertheless, there were wall lines of possibly three buildings though these did not survive more than one or two courses high. There was some porcelain in the contexts within this trench, in association with a small amount of coarse pottery. In contrast, the E trench produced large quantities of coarse ware, some of it in large pieces. Beneath the hearth, floor and ephemeral walls of a N-S house dating from the post-medieval period were layers of peat ash but no clear trace of any other structures. The coarse pottery was decorated (with prick marks and vertical incised lines on the neck, and also with stab marks and comb impressions) and some of it had a slightly matt black surface which appears to have arisen from manufacture and not from use. Prior to the imported 18th-century ceramics and glass, the only other certain piece of dating evidence was the bowl of a late 17th-century clay pipe.
A programme of test pit digging across the knoll revealed considerable differences in soil depth, ranging from c 0.5m to 0.2m. Magnetometer survey appears to confirm this pattern.
The prick-decorated pottery can be dated to the 14th-15th centuries, indicating that this is the likely location of the post-Norse settlement of Bornish. If this can be demonstrated then we have a complete settlement history of Upper Bornish from the Iron Age through to Viking Age on the machair (Site 1 to Sites 2 and 3), and then through to the early 19th century (Site 89) on the peatland fringe adjacent to the machair sites (Parker Pearson 1996).
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Sheffield
P Marshall, J Mulville and M Parker Pearson 1996

M and T Parker Pearson and Rop, 1995, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 109 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38863.

M Parker Pearson, 1996, British Archaeology, 7 (Bibliographic reference). SWE40944.

P, J and M Marshall, Mulville , 1996, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 107-108 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38160.