Monument record 2493 - CILLE-BHARRA, EOLIGARRY, BARRA

NF70NW 3 7051 0738.

(NF 7051 0738) Cille-Bharra (NR)
OS 6' map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Cille-bharra: the remains of a church and two chapels, with walls up to 8ft high, in an unenclosed burial ground, are recorded by the RCAHMS
(A, C and D), but MacCulloch (1824), refers to four buildings within an enclosure bearing traces of an external ditch. The building at A has been identified as St Barr's Church: a St Mary's Church is also noted but not identified. (RCAHMS 1928) Muir, who visited the site in 1886, thought the fourth chapel (B) (not mentioned by the RCAHMS) had been the parish church until about 1835. Martin, c.1700, refers to 'St Barr's Church', with 'a little chappel by it ...'
A Runic stone found in the churchyard is now in the NMAS (IB 102) dated after AD 900.
RCAHMS 1928; T S Muir 1885; J MacCulloch 1824; A O Curle, M Olsen and H Shetelig 1954; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903.

There are the extant remains of three buildings in the burial ground of Cille-Bharra, which is now enclosed and still in use. No trace of a fourth (B) could be found.
St Barr's Church (A - NF 0551 0738) measures 11.6m by 4.0m, within walls 0.7m thick, and survives to a maximum height of 2.2m.
Chapel 'C' (NF 0553 0738) measures 8.0m by 3.0m within walls 0.6m thick, and survives to roof height, 2.6m, in the E and W gables.
Chapel 'D' (NF 0552 0737) measures 4.4m by 2.0m internally, within walls 0.6m thick, and survives to a height of 2.3m in the W gable.
All these buildings are bonded with shell and lime mortar. No name is known locally for any of the chapels, nor could the find-spot of the Runic stone be located.
According to MacKenzie (C Mackenzie 1936) there was a ruined priory at Cille Bharra c.1697.
Visited by OS (N K B) 24 May 1965.

E20 (NF705074) The standing remains of the church of Cill Bharra (RCAHMS 1928: 123-25). The remains of three chapels, together with some mediaeval grave slabs. The runic stone found here is now in the National Museum, Edinburgh.
Branigan and Foster 2000, 11.

The monument known as Cille Bharra, church, two chapels, and seven grave markers, Barra comprises the remains of a mediaeval church, two chapels, four recumbent grave-slabs, two cross-shaped grave-markers, and a small slab incised with a Latin cross. The site, at the N end of Barra, is dedicated to St Barr, Finbarr of Cork, who was a follower of St Columba. St Barr's Church probably dates to the 12th or 13th century adn was roofless by 1625. The church, like the chapels is built of rubble pinned with shells and built in lime mortar. To the SE are the remains of a small chapel with a surviving round-headed window. The chapel to the NE of the church is probably later and was retored in 1970 and now houses three grave slabs. The area to be scheduled is rectangular and measures about 63m from it northern corner to its southern, and 60m with (sic) its western corner to its eastern, to include the above ground remains of the church, chapels and early burial markers and an area around in which evidence associated with the early use of the site may survive. Active burial lairs and above ground modern features, including headstones and the graveyard wall are excluded from the scheduling.
16th February, 2001, Historic Scotland Scheduling Document

NF 705 073 Desk-based assessment and building recording survey of St Barr's church and the South Chapel were undertaken in April 2002 in advance of a proposed conservation programme. Topographic surey of the graveyard was also undertaken. The site of a possible chancel screen was identified in St Barr's church: a previously unrecorded aumbry was identified in the S wall of South Chapel. The current condition of the buildings was recorded.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: Benjamin Tindall Architects
Lowe 2002, 118

J Macculloch, 1824, The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, 4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12936.

T S Muir, 1885, Ecclesiological notes on some of the Islands of Scotland, 51-3, 281-3 pl. 6 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5959.

Joseph Anderson, 1903, The early Christian monuments of Scotland, part III, 114 fig. 118 (Bibliographic reference). SWE403.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 123-5, No. 436 plans figs.172-3, illusts. figs 174-9 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

J. L. Campbell (ed.), 1936, The Book of Barra, 21 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12937.

A O, M and H Curle, Olsen and , 1954, Civilisation of the Viking settlers in relation to their old and new countries, 123-4, 174-7 illusts. (Bibliographic reference). SWE2560.

J N G and M Ritchie and Harman, 1985, Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Argyll and the Western Isles, 108, no. 44 (Bibliographic reference). SWE6206.

Keith Branigan & Patrick Foster, 2000, From Barra to Berneray: Archaeological Survey and Excavation in the Southern Isles ..., 11 (Bibliographic reference). SWE41033.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2002, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41091.