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  • MacLean’s Cross, Soroby

    Mapped as ‘Sorby Cross’ on the 1768 Turnbull map.

    Described as a ‘ponderous cruciform stone of late character’ (RCAHMS 1980: 167), it is known today as MacLean’s Cross. Stylistically, it has proved hard to date, but is likely to be Early Medieval rather than Early Christian (Fisher 2001: 14).
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  • Saddle quern

    A saddle quern used as a coping stone in Fang a’ Bhàird ‘the sheepfold of the poet’ on Ben Hynish. A nearby cobble has been placed in it as a rubbing stone. These are prehistoric and are evidence that there was cereal grains were processed nearby. A number of saddle querns were found prominently in the sheepfold in Happy Valley. There may have been some superstition behind this.

    See Joanna Close-Brooks (1983) Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 113, pp. 282–289:
    ‘Not much can be said about early prehistoric querns in Scotland since so few are published. There is no well-defined typology; some flat querns can readily be classified as saddle querns, and some deep ones as trough querns, but others hover between the two extremes. One must assume that early Neolithic querns were flattish saddle querns, and that later on trough querns came into fashion. These apparently flourished in the Bronze Age especially in northern Scotland. There are now radiocarbon dates of 1564 be ± 120 (BM-441) and 1760 be ± 55 (GrN-6168) from carbonized barley associated with part of a trough quern in the wall of a house at Ness of Grating, Shetland (Calder 1956, 353; Barcham 1980). In the Iron Age flat saddle querns reappear. This change is demonstrated at Jarlshof (Hamilton 1957, 49, 50), and Clickhimin (Hamilton 1968, 30, 64, 78), though the exact date at which it happens is not altogether clear. The preponderance of flat saddle querns on Iron Age sites is also shown by old excavations such as Duntroon, Argyll (Caulfield 1978, pi 8a). There seems to be a general, though not exclusive, tendency for earlier saddle querns to be a shallow scoop with a rim round the grinding area on some or all sides (fig 1, 2; fig 2, 4), whereas Iron Age querns are almost flat and worn right out to all edges, as can be seen in the photograph of the Duntroon querns mentioned above. This is also true of the large collections of saddle querns recently excavated at Broxmouth, East Lothian, and at Douglas- muir, Angus. On this basis the quern from Kilcoy III (fig 3) is likely to be of Iron Age date. The geographical extent of trough querns is unclear at present. Curie (1934, 301) coined the term ‘trough quern’ for the deep querns he found at Jarlshof. Though this type of quern is best known in Shetland, the type is also common in northern mainland Scotland, and a number of trough querns from Ross-shire and Inverness-shire are noted below. Beyond this, trough querns may occur even in southern Scotland.’
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  • Trough quern

    This trough quern was dug up in an old stackyard from the foundations of a shed in The Sliabh, Balephuil in 2010. It was broken when it was found. It was put as a coping stone in a drystone wall. It was made from a block of gneiss.
    NL 97060 40793
    Dimensions of stone: L50 x W50 x D24cm
    Trough: L 40 x W 20 x D13 cm

    It is prehistoric in date and was used for grinding grain.

    See See Joanna Close-Brooks (1983) Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 113, pp. 282–289:
    ‘Not much can be said about early prehistoric querns in Scotland since so few are published. There is no well-defined typology; some flat querns can readily be classified as saddle querns, and some deep ones as trough querns, but others hover between the two extremes. One must assume that early Neolithic querns were flattish saddle querns, and that later on trough querns came into fashion. These apparently flourished in the Bronze Age especially in northern Scotland. There are now radiocarbon dates of 1564 be ± 120 (BM-441) and 1760 be ± 55 (GrN-6168) from carbonized barley associated with part of a trough quern in the wall of a house at Ness of Grating, Shetland (Calder 1956, 353; Barcham 1980). In the Iron Age flat saddle querns reappear. This change is demonstrated at Jarlshof (Hamilton 1957, 49, 50), and Clickhimin (Hamilton 1968, 30, 64, 78), though the exact date at which it happens is not altogether clear. The preponderance of flat saddle querns on Iron Age sites is also shown by old excavations such as Duntroon, Argyll (Caulfield 1978, pi 8a). There seems to be a general, though not exclusive, tendency for earlier saddle querns to be a shallow scoop with a rim round the grinding area on some or all sides (fig 1, 2; fig 2, 4), whereas Iron Age querns are almost flat and worn right out to all edges, as can be seen in the photograph of the Duntroon querns mentioned above. This is also true of the large collections of saddle querns recently excavated at Broxmouth, East Lothian, and at Douglas- muir, Angus. On this basis the quern from Kilcoy III (fig 3) is likely to be of Iron Age date. The geographical extent of trough querns is unclear at present. Curie (1934, 301) coined the term ‘trough quern’ for the deep querns he found at Jarlshof. Though this type of quern is best known in Shetland, the type is also common in northern mainland Scotland, and a number of trough querns from Ross-shire and Inverness-shire are noted below. Beyond this, trough querns may occur even in southern Scotland.’

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  • Pounder

    ‘One double-ended pounder of light grey stone. Made on a beach cobble. Elongated. Broken at each end. Mann Collection.’
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  • Polisher

    ‘Pebble polisher of grey stone. Roughly teardrop-shaped. Use-wear at the pointed end.’ Photo
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  • Possible skaill knife

    ‘One knife of red-brown stone. Sub-oval on plan, and quite flat. Tapers to one end, where it is flaked on both faces to create a working edge. Mann Collection.’
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  • Stone disc and smoother

    ‘Large disc of brown stone, and a small, elongated, porous stone, which is possibly a smoother.’ Photo
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  • Stone disc, possibly lid

    ‘One red-brown flat beach pebble flaked into a rough disc. The underside is flaked at the edges at an inward angle to create a bevel. Probably used as a lid. Mann Collection.’
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  • Stone oil lamp

    This carved stone was handed in to An Iodhlann in 2024 by Donald Brown, Vaul. Its find spot is unknown. It has been identified by Ann Clarke as probably an oil lamp dating from the Iron Age or later with a carved thumb grip. A similar object from Pool on Sanday is also shown.
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  • Ringing Stone: cup marked lithophone

    ‘KORY FINMACKOUL # TIR A 1 NGR NM027487
    G ‘the hollow of Finn mac Cumaill’

    Kory Finmackoul, 1654 Blaeu
    No longer known in the oral tradition of the island

    Balephetrish | At the centre of a natural amphitheatre created by the raised beach above the Balephetrish shoreline is a rock known as G Clach a’ Choire ‘the rock of the hollow’ (Mairi MacKinnon, pers. comm.). More commonly today it is called The Ringing Stone, because of the sound it produces when struck (Canmore ID 21529). This rounded glacial erratic stands as a perched boulder 1.8 m high. It has been pock-marked by over sixty cup markings. Some may be Neolithic in origin, but many have been enlarged during historical times (Tertia Barnett, pers. comm.). It is unique in Scotland: ‘A rock gong … listed by John MacKenzie as one of the seven wonders of Scotland … Clach a’ Choire was “said to contain a crock of gold, but if it ever split Tiree will disappear beneath the waves”‘ (Black 2008, 396–7).

    Photogrammetry on SCRAP by James McComas, NOSAS

    There are other rock gongs or lithophones in Scotland: for example, the Iron Stone at Huntly in Aberdeenshire (Canmore ID 17827), which, like The Ringing Stone, ‘has been wedged off the ground by small rocks placed at both ends’ (Fagg 1997, 5). This is possibly to enhance the stone’s resonance. There are also two Ringing Rocks on Iona. Lithophones are common in Africa, where ‘the voice of the rock is believed to be the voice of an ancestor or other spirit with power to summon the supernatural’ (Fagg 1997, 3). It is possible it was played as a musical instrument: ‘Two people working at the same site, knocking stone upon stone, might well have set up quite complex rhythms, as Nigerian tribesmen do to this day using resonant rocks, sometimes singing through bits of tubing and other items to distort their voices, which are intended to be those of their ancestors speaking from another world’ (Purser 1992, 25). Limestone and granite seem to be the commonest rocks forming rock gongs, the most important characteristic being their crystalline structure (Fagg 1997, 6).

    Kory Finmackoul, which may be transcribed Coire Finn Mac Cumaill, is a Gaelic construction in G coire ‘circular hollow surrounded by hills’ (Dwelly). Coire occurs in two other locations on Tiree: G Poll a’ Choire ‘the pool of the hollow’ in Hynish, and G An Coire Geur ‘the sharp hollow’, a low-lying area of croft land in Barrapol. It is a very common element throughout Gaelic-speaking Scotland: for example, Coire Liath in Torosay, Mull (SP).

    The specific is the mythic Old Gaelic personal name Finn mac Cumaill (Fionn mac Cumhaill, Campbell 1891, 16). Finn-names based on this warrior-hunter, who lived ‘outside society in a wilderness boundary zone’ (Fitzpatrick et al. 2015, 28), are found throughout Europe, but particularly in Ireland, Man and Scotland: for example, Seefin in County Wicklow and Suidhe Coire Fhionn or Fingal’s Cauldron Seat (Canmore ID 39705), two stone circles on Arran. These names derive from Gaelic ballads including the Finn Cycle of Tales (the Fiannaigheacht), which appear for the first time in Ireland as early as the seventh century (Fitzpatrick et al. 2015, 25). Most of the Scottish Gaelic ballads that survive were composed in the later Middle Ages In both Ireland and Scotland (Meek 1998). Finn-names are particularly located in places of geological transition or prehistoric significance (Fitzpatrick et al. 2015). This isolated spot on the northern shore of Tiree appears to have been a place of story and mystery in both prehistoric and medieval times (see An Uamh Mhòr; and see Martin 1994 (1695, 206).’ (extract from Holliday, J. (2021) Longships in the Sand, pp. 529–30)

    Picture of Dr Tertia Barnett, the leader of the Scottish Rock Art project, on the Ringing Stone.
    Photogrammetry by Alan Thompson, NOSAS
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