Monument record 1392 - CROIS AN T-SUIDHEACHAIN, MINGULAY

NL58SE 1 566 827

For (surrounding) Mingulay village, see NL58SE 16.

(Name: NL 564827) Crois An T-Suidheachain (O.E.)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

(NL 566 827) Crois An T-Suidheachain (OE)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 1st ed., (1880)

Stone Setting; Crois an t-Suidheachain: Three different stone foundations where open-air mass is said to have been celebrated. The central rectangular structure measures 9'9" east to west internally by 8'3". Some 5'6" to the north is a similar stone setting, 6'x 3'8" internally. A slab set on end divides the structure, so the W compartment is only 4' long. This setting resembles a short cist. About 9' to the SE of the central building (Sic) is a sub-oval foundation some 4' across. At its north-easterly end is a block of stone 1'10" x 1'6" x 1'10". All the other stones rise only a few inches above ground. T S Muir, 1885, records of circle of loose stones 42' diameter surrounding three 'cells' and a 'central heap'.
RCAHMS 1928; T S Muir 1885.

No trace of this stone setting was found at NL 564827 or at NL 566827. Visited by OS (W D J) 19 May 1965.

At the S end of the bay an ancient site called Crois an t-Suidheachan (the cross of the sitting place) survives as scattered stones: tradition holds it variously to have been a cross-site or a small religious establishment. Martin Martin (1695) records a site of worship in the form of a stone dedicated to St Christopher, which may be significant given the proximity of this site to the best landing place.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 24 april 1997.

MY76 (NL56648276) Place of cross (Crois an t-Suidheachain).
Location: Cliff edge of coastal bench.
Description: Noted from OS map. Now only a 4 x 4 m platform with a few embedded formless stones in evidence. See RCAHMS above.
Brannigan and Foster 2000, 101

MY 76 (2) Chamber tomb. Shown on the 1st edition 6 in. OS map of 1880 as four small subrectangular structures standing in a circle on a stone-edged platform where, in early modern times, open-air mass was conducted (presumably before the chapel house was constructed). The 1915 RCAHMS field notes and description of this site suggest that one of the structures could have been a cist, judging by the small chamber formed by massive stone slabs set on edge. The location at this southern point of Mingulay Bay opposite that of sites MY2 and MY1 on the northern side is typical of the territorial marking around a settlement area that is not uncommon in the Neolithic and is similar to such arrangements in the Borve Vally on Barra.

T S Muir, 1885, Ecclesiological notes on some of the Islands of Scotland, 54, 256-7 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5959.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 137, No. 463 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Keith Branigan & Patrick Foster, 2000, From Barra to Berneray: Archaeological Survey and Excavation in the Southern Isles ... (Bibliographic reference). SWE41033.