33017: BAILE NA CILLE, CNOC EOTHAIL, CAPAIL MOR & CAPAIL BEAC – CHAPEL (Undated), Graveyard (Undated)
Summary:
CHAPEL (Undated)
Graveyard (Undated)
Early church in circular graveyard. Dedicated to St Christopher
Location:
NB 04806 33882
Full description:
NB03SW 2 0480 3387.
(NB 0480 3387) Burial Ground (NAT)
OS 6’map, (1965)
An old churchyard, beside the highest point of which stood a church built in 1724. The site was occupied by the earlier church. ‘Capail Mor’ – Big Chapel’ – the foundations of which are said to be traceable in the spring. To the south of it is the site of Capail Beag – ‘Little Chapel’ – possibly a still earlier church. ‘Capail Mor’ was a sanctuary.
(One of these, probably ‘Capail Mor’), is presumably the pre-Reformation ‘St Christopher’s Chapel in Uge’ noted by Martin.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914; M Martin 1934.
This burial ground is in a knoll, on the summit of which are traces of stony banks which may be the remains of the chapel, but they are now so obscured by grave slabs, loose boulders and vegetation that the general shape and outline is impossible to define. There is no trace of the other two chapels, and there is no local knowledge of them, nor of the dedication.
Within the burial ground, which was last used over 20 years ago, is a stone font.
Visited by OS (R L) 28 June 1969.
Visited by the Coastal Erosion Assessment team 1996.
The ‘stone font’ mentioned above may be a holy water stoup. MML 10.1.2000
‘The monument known as Cnoc Eothail, Baille na Cille, burial ground and site of chapel comprises the site of a pre-Reformation Chapel (thought to have been called St Christopher’s) within a walled burial ground. The area to be scheduled is oval measuring a maximum of 33m N-S by 40m E-W to include the entire burial ground.’
HS Scheduling Document 27 April 1992.
References:
Martin Martin. 1695. A description of the Western Islands of Scotland circa 1695, Editor: Macleod, D J (ed,), Publisher: Eneas Mackay, A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland c. 1695. 106
RCAHMCS. 1928. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Ninth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, Publisher: HMSO The RCAHMS 9th Report and Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. 18, No. 67
Burgess, Christopher & Church, Michael. 1997. 2 volumes, surveyed 1996, covering the 100m above the high tide line, and the intertidal zone. Coastal Erosion Assessment, Lewis. A Report for Historic Scotland.
Acknowledgement:
Information provided by Western Isles Council Sites & Monuments Record, January 2006.
See also the gravestone inscriptions.
Record Location
Details
- Record Type:
- Historical or Archaeological Site
- Type Of Site:
- Chapel; Cemetery
- SMRRecord ID:
- MWE4056
- Record Maintained by:
- CEU
Related Media
Baile na Cille burial ground
Baile na Cille under snow
Lazy beds at Traigh na Sruban