Monument record 776 - St Mary's Chapel, NUNTON, BENBECULA

NF75SE 4 7664 5379.

(NF 7664 5379) Chapel (NR) (Ruin) Cladh Mhuire (NR)
OS 6'map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)

'Origines' (OPS 1954), referring to Martin (M Martin 1934), states that at Nuntoun, Benbecula ' there existed till lately a building, probably a chapel of the nuns of Iona, but locally believed to have been a nunnery dedicated to the Virgin Mary'. Easson (D E Easson 1957) says the claim ' need not be taken seriously'. Muir (T S Muir 1885) notes the shell of a chapel, 25ft by 16ft externally, within the burial ground at Nuntown. There is a plain cross lying within the chapel and a comparatively modern one in the burial ground. The ruin was in fair condition in 1924. Orig Paroch Scot 1854; M Martin 1884; D E Easson 1957; T S Muir 1885; RCAHMS 1928.

The shell of the chapel now stands 1.6m high to the eaves of the side walls and 3.2m high to the apex of the gables; but there has been considerable silting, the floor of the chapel probably being about 1.0m below the present ground level; the mortared walls are 0.9m thick. Nothing was seen of the crosses mentioned by previous authorities. At NF 7667 5377, in a wall, 1.2 to 1.4m thick adjoining the burial ground, there is a circular gate pillar, of stone construction, 1.2m in diameter and c.3.0m high, and the remains of a second pillar. The gateway may possibly be part of the original burial ground although it lies outside the present enclosure. The majority of the graves in the present burial ground are 19th - 20th century although many of the uninscribed stones may be earlier.
Visited by OS (J T T) 25 May 1965.

Anderson reports that a Celtic bell was found at Kilmory, Nunton.
J Anderson 1881, 213.

The monument known as Nunton, St Mary's Chapel (Cladh Mhuire), Benbecula comprises the roofless shell of a small church of late Mediaeval, pre-Reformation, date. The area to be scheduled comprises the chapel itself and an area of ground extending approximately 3m from its external wallface, in which evidence relating to its construction and use may survive. The area is rectangular, 13.5m E-W by 10.8m N-W.
Entry in the Schedule of Monuments, HS

Martin Martin, 1695a, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695, 82 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5082.

OPS, 1854, Origines Parochiales Scotiae, 370 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9142.

J Anderson, 1881a, Scotland in early Christian times: the Rhind lectures in archaeology, 1879, 213 (Bibliographic reference). SWE622.

T S Muir, 1885, Ecclesiological notes on some of the Islands of Scotland, 49-50. (Bibliographic reference). SWE5959.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 99, No. 340 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

D E Easson, 1957a, Medieval Religious Houses in Scotland, 130 (Bibliographic reference). SWE1337.