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  • Erskine Beveridge visits Tiree in 1901

    TIREE. Mr Beveridge, the antiquarian, Dunfermline, has been on the Island for some days. and has been making some important discoveries, Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 27 July 1901, p. 6

    We know from his diaries that he also visited in 1896 and 1897.
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  • Cuttings about Dun Mor Vaul excavation

    Three newspaper articles about the excavation of the Vaul broch, 1963-64

    Three photocopied articles by archaeologist Dr Euan MacKie from `The Times` newpaper describing the excavation of Dun Mor Bhalla.
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  • Watching brief, thatched house, Sandaig

    Sandaig, Tiree
    Watching brief
    John-James Atkinson – GUARD Archaeology Ltd
    NL 94011 43269 A watching brief was carried out, 15–16
    August 2017, during groundwork associated with the
    redevelopment of the thatched terrace cottage. Cobbled
    surfaces and a drain were uncovered in one of the buildings,
    indicating that it had originally been a byre.
    Archive: NRHE (intended)
    Funder: Roots Architecture
    (Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (2017), p. 64)
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  • Review of Erskine Beveridge’s book on Coll and Tiree (1903)

    PREHISTORIC FORTS AND ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES OF COLL AND TIREE

    The islands of Coll and Tiree are considerably out of the track of ordinary tourists, hence the relics and sculptured remainsof a bygone age in these islands of the Inner Hebrides have been left obscure and unnoted to a degree not accorded to similar fragments on the mainland.

    The work of enumeration and classification of the duns or forts of Coll and Tirce has been undertaken by Mr Erskine Beveridge, the laird of Vallay, in North Uist who, with somewhat rare abnegation, has sought, as he says, “simply to describe what was seen, and to leave inferences alone” “A hard saying,” he comments, and yet, as an authority has expressed it, “better only describe the objects and place of finding and let philosophers see to the dates.” Scholars and philosophers, it may at once be admitted, will find much material lying to their hands in Mr Beveridge’s exhaustive and systematically expressed work. Of duns, or prehistoric forts in Coll and Tiree, it appears there are no less than sixty-one remains of various types, and apparently of a date not later than about AD 1000, “with quite a thousand years of possible earlier chronology.” Most of the duns are found close to the western shores of these islands. Mr Beveridge gives as a not unusual inference that the occupants expected their foes from seaward.

    Further, the duns—more especially upon the seashore—as a rule stand in a continuous chain, each within view of the next; so notably indeed, that on several instances a fresh site has been discovered by searching a headland between two forts already known, but obstructed by it from an interchange of signals. If any such communication really existed, it was possibly by means of fire — smoke by day, or flame by night … Several duns in both Coll and Tiree are not indeed within full view of each other, and yet in each of these cases smoke or flames might well have served as a warning from one to the other.

    The objects found in the duns show how primitive were these early settlers. Unglazed patterned pottery was noted at four duns in Coll and in eleven in Tiree ; flints, holed-bones, lumps of iron slag, sling-stones and hammer-stones almost complete the list of discoveries in the dunes and sandhills. Though Tiree is more thickly populated than Coll and the duns accordingly are more likely to be interfered with, yet we are informed that the duns of Tiree are in much better preservation. This is explained by the fact that the duns are of a more massive type than those of Coll.

    Nowadays, when a church is to be built, there is now and again a raised about the overchurching of a town or district. The island of Coll is twelve miles in length, and about three in breadth. Dr. Reeves, in the year 1854, wrote to the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, describing eleven chapels as having formerly existed in Coll and Gunna. Tiree is slightly larger than Coll, and the average is maintained by Dr. Reeves, who cites thirteen ancient chapels in Tiree. The sculptured stones here are more numerous and of more elaborate quality than at Coll.

    The illustrations in this handsome quarto are lavish and exceedingly well done. As pictured memorials of a past and present-day likenesses of places within the knowledge of many, the book has a rare value. It publication is limited to three hundred numbered copies, of which two hundred are for private issue, leaving only one hundred for ale. Mr Beveridge’s book is therefore likely to become increasingly valuable in the process of time. The bock is altogether a fine one and perfectly appointed. Mr Beveridge is no novice in the art of archaeological research, and his latest volume is the result of a systematic study rather than a mere dilettante pursuit. With regret we close this notice, which we feel is only too brief, and prompts the desire for a continuation. (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 30 May 1903, p. 3)
  • Ludovic McLellan Mann excavates Tiree hut in 1906

    THE PRE-HISTORIC HUTDWELLERS OF TIREE.
    By LUDOVIC MACLELLAN MANN, F.S.A, Scot.

    Little is known of the habits and customs, the religions and the civilisations which prevailed in the Scottish area during the Ages of Bronze and of Stone.

    The extension of this knowledge has been slow compared with the progress of research in other branches, and indeed with the developments in the domain of prehistoric archaeology and prehistoric anthropology in other countries.

    The reason for this is plain. It is not that in Scotland opportunities for securing information are rare, the disclosure of prehistoric sites and the finding of stray prehistoric relics being frequent. It is that such remains are, as a rule, thoughtlessly wrecked and obliterated on coming to light, and that very rarely indeed is an attempt made to record fully and accurately the facts revealed. It is surprising and unpardonable that an intelligent community should thus allow every year a mass of information of the highest scientific value to become irrecoverably lost. Future generations will, without doubt, lament this gross negligence, especially as opportunities for securing information are bound to become fewer as the destruction of ancient memorials is rapidly proceeding.

    In the endeavour to extend a knowledge of the facts relating to the early inhabitants, the writer has examined and explored in recent years a number of prehistoric sites, and has recovered and registered many thousands of objects which are the work of artists and potters, and craftsmen in bone, wood, metal, vitreous paste and glass, and in jet, flint, and other stones, who carried on their labours in the Scottish area before the birth of Christ.

    A TIREE SITE

    When walking last July over a sand-blown area on the north-west side of Tiree, I noticed a piece of pottery protruding from the soil. It was obviously sticking in an old surface layer, from which the superincumbent sand was being blown away. No doubt, within a week or two a considerable part of the old surface would have become exposed and broken up, and the relics contained in it scattered and destroyed. On clearing away the drifted sand I discovered a hard, compact layer of dark soil about nine inches deep and, what is noteworthy, the layer covered a circular space about eight to nine feet in diameter. The layer lay on a deposit of pure white, undisturbed drift sand. Obtaining some assistance, and using a pocket-knife, the whole of the dark matter was patiently dug over and sifted by hand. Quite a large collection of prehistoric relics were in this manner recovered, all broadly contemporary, and hence of considerable archaeological value.

    THE DOOR OF THE HUT

    The circular edge of the site was most clearly marked round the south-west side, but towards the north-east edge the black layer (or, as it turned out to have been, the floor of the hut) thinned out beyond the periphery. Here on the north-east had apparently been the door.

    It is not surprising that there were found traces of an opening or door facing north-east or opposite to the direction of the prevailing winds and rains. This feature was also noted in the case of a prehistoric village of the small round huts which I excavated in Wigtownshire some time ago. No remains of a walling was observed in the Tiree site, but it was quite noticeable where the floor and débris had accumulated against it. The walling may have been easily perishable or portable. Outside of the line of the walling was white loose sand.

    THE RELICS

    The occurrence of pottery fragments in the relic bed of an ancient dwelling-place is always interesting, as some idea can usually be had of the period when the site was occupied. Quitea large number of fragments of earthenware vessels were found embedded in the hut floor, the remains of at least five different vessels having been found. All were hand-made, but different entirely from the well-known, hand-made Hebridean “croggans” of medieval and modern times. Some of the vessels have been bucket-shaped, with slightly bulging walls and about twelve inches heigh. One vessel has a horizontal beading or moulding running round it, about three inches below the rim. The moulding, before the clay was fired, has been notched at intervals with a fingertip. Another vessel has a raised band placed near the rim, disposed in festoon fashion and similarly marked.

    POTTERY NEW TO SCOTLAND

    So far as I can learn, no pottery so ornamented has been recorded from Scotland, but I have recently examined vessels identical in contour, size, texture, and decoration, which have been discovered in Wiltshire and other parts of the south of England, in associations pointing to their belonging to the Bronze Age, and probably to the earlier part of that Age.

    Reckoning tentatively (for the data are still too meagre to permit of dogmatic assertions) the Bronze Age began about the fourteenth century before the birth of Christ and terminated about the third century before Christ. There are good grounds for the conjecture that during these early times the transmission of fashions and ideas in art and in style of craftsmanship was by no means slow. The various fashions of the potters permeated to remote parts of Great Britain in successive waves and with great uniformity.

    Not improbably, then, the Tiree hut under discussion belongs to the earlier part of the Bronze Age of Great Britain, say, to the end of the second millennium or the beginning of the first millennium before the birth of our Saviour, to the time when the great Rameses was omnipotent in Egypt.

    Amongst the relics found embedded the floor, which are of less interest than the pottery, are small lumps of unbaked clay, limpet and cockle shells, claws of crabs, two large univaloular shells with broken or chipped away edges and one half (neatly severed) of the valve of a large pecten [scallop] shell. More important than the shell remains are the relics of stone. These do not tend in any way to combat the suggestion as to the chronological position dictated by the character of the pottery. There were found four flint fragments—one fire-injured and showing the “bulb of percussion”—four fine hammerstones, some anvil-stones, two polishers, and two small artificially formed discs perforated near the middle. The discs might at first sight be pronounced spinning-whorls. A close examination of the position and character of the perforations does not, however, seem to bear out that the stones were so used.
    The writer ventures to express the hope that he may be favoured by a communication from any reader who may hear of the discovery of ancient remains or relics. 144 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 2 June 1906, p. 3)

  • Ludovic Mann in Coll and Tiree in 1907

    ANTIQUARIAN DISCOVERIES
    ‘The burial-place of an adult, probably of the Stone Age, was excavated last week in the island of Tiree by Mrs A. W. Farquhar, her brother, and Mr Ludovic MacLellan Mann. The body had been placed in the smallest possible compass on its right side, with knees drawn up to the chin, but rather breast downwards. The relics around and upon the skeleton are in harmony with theory, deducible from the position in which body been placed, that the burial belongs to a very early period. The condition of the bones and the relics is so good that they could be readily set up in a museum in the original positions. Discoveries have also been made recently in the island of Coll. An important find was that of a set of thirty small, finely-made flint implements, probably of the Bronze Age. The objects include one of the most beautifully made flint points got in Scotland. It belongs to a type more common in Ireland than Scotland.’ (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 3 August 1907, p. 4)

    ‘The burial place of an adult, probably of the Stone Age was excavated last week in the island of Tiree; a find of thirty small, finely made flint implements, probably of the Bronze Age, has also been recently made in the island of Coll. The objects include one of the most beautifully made flint arrow points got in Scotland.’ (Perthshire Advertiser, 31 July 1907, p. 3)
  • 1893 article about Hough stone circle, Kilkenneth and Hynish, Tiree

    ANTIQUITIES OF TIREE
    The island of Tiree, situated 60 miles from Oban, and well out in the Atlantic, has evidently, from discoveries made in recent years, a very ancient history. But what that history is, is at present quite unknown. Indications of its antiquity are abundant; and from these there is reason to suppose that it was occupied by a primitive people before Iona became the residence of Columbus. Unfortunately, however, no record exists to afford us any clue as to what its early history really was, or in reality, were its first inhabitants. Ancient tombs, and more recently bronze and stone ornaments have. been found. These indicate an age prior to the Christian era. In the western part of the island, at a place called Kilkenneth, eight graves have been discovered , and in the vicinity of an old chapel, the ruins of which only exist. These graves are situated in a mound overlooking the sea, and no others have been found near them. The ravages of time have removed all traces of inscriptions, or of stones of any kind that might have marked the place. The sand and gravel have done their work, but the bones have been laid bare, and have been found scattered about. In the little chapel a considerable quantity of bones were found inside and outside the walls, and these were carefully gathered and covered up by the Marquis of Lorne a few years ago, when bis Lordship paid a visit to the island. This chapel bears traces of having a circular wall or fort all round it sign, but these traces are fast disappearing. A considerable extent of ground has been enclosed, and it is supposed that it was used as a place o! burial. Again a few miles distant is the hill of Kenavarra where in early times there was a famous well. This well is now dry, but several peculiar stone ornaments have been found there … In the Hynish township, some graves have recently been discovered, and curious stone ornaments found. As in the case of Kilkenneth, these indicate great antiquity, and, undoubtedly, further discoveries will be made. A peculiar feature of the island is its ancient forts. There are 22 of these situated along the shores. They are of very ancient origin. There is reason to suppose that they were erected by the Danes, who infested the island during the occupation of Iona by Columbus and after. In all probability these forts would be erected in 9th century, the period of the greatest activity of these warlike people. Their remarkable state of preservation at the present time is a proof of the substantial workmanship which must has have been employed in their construction : they are circular in form, of considerable height, and still so complete that the two we visited in the Vaul township may stand for another 1000 years. It is recorded that the Danes used to fortify tops of hills on their invasions, though they remained for but for a short time. They exactly correspond with these ancient forts. They are built uniformly on hills or eminences, and to this day, despite the ravages of time, manifest uncommon strength. The greatest discovery is believed to be a Druid circle on the farm of Hough, tenanted by Mr MacDiarmid. In company with Mr MacDiarmid we visited this place and found the circle situated in remote and solitary place, very perfect on the whole. It was a completely formed circle, 44 yards in diameter and 132 in circumference. Twelve great stones at equal distances formed the circle. The centre stone has been taken away but its place was clearly marked. These stones were mostly lying flat and would weigh about 3 tons each. A correspondent has measured three of them, and his measurements are as follows … The ground officer [John MacKinnon] tells me that the circle is well known by natives living in the neighbourhood and that has always been looked upon as a place of worship. He was both born and brought up on the next farm to Hough [Balevullin] and he remembers when the circle contained 13 stones, 1 in the centre and I2 in the circle, and that old people stated that this represented Christ and the twelve apostles. There is no doubt that the circle is ancient, and the people must have always with upon it with reverence when so few of the stones have been tampered with. … The Scottish antiquarian has not found his way to Tiree There is material awaiting him, probably more ancient than anything hitherto discovered in Scotland. … At a grave recently discovered in Hynish, several stone weapons were found, specially a small hammer and various miniature weapons. (Perthshire Advertiser, 10 July 1893, p. 2)


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  • Bog butter


    Antiquities—Lately a quantity of tallow weighing about 28 Ibs., was found deposited in & wooden vessel, under several feet of peatmoss on the farm of Gortan. The vessel was all of one piece, and hewn out of the trunk of a tree. The hollow was made with fire, as the marks still show, the charcoal on the inside being distinctly discernible, even though the wood is so far decayed that it breaks off in small fragments. A small portion of the wood on one side has become powdered into dust, and a little of the tallow next this part presents the same appearance. The antique character of the deposit cannot be doubted. Had the vessel and its contents been found nearer the centre of civilisation, say on the banks of the Clyde or the Forth, skilled antiquarians would undoubtedly affirm that the vessel belonged to Scottish pre-historic times, and was made in the Stone Period, and therefore now over 2000 years old. But, as it is, that the deposit is hundreds of years old can hardly be doubted. Unquestionably, it was placed there for safety, probably at a time when, in our little kingdom on the sea, as elsewhere within the same period, there were wars and rumours of wars ; and, possibly, the owner may have been slain in one of those wars waged against some intruders, and in defence of life and property. It may have been at the time when Harold the Fair of Norway added the Hebrides to his Norwegian kingdom, and is therefore from 700 to 800 years old. Or it may be in connection with some clan feud. It may be noticed that on this farm, and not far from the place where the deposit was found, there is one of the sites of the many ancient forts or duns with which the island was at one time studded. Another site on the top of a little hill, with a commanding view, is quite near to one side of the farm, and not more than a mile, if quite a mile, from the one referred to above. (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 24 August 1889 )
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  • Souterrain and grave, Arnabost. Gold ‘corkscrew’ and human remains of a ‘warrior’ with helmet and sword: newspaper cutting 1896


    ANTIQUARIAN CAVE AT COLL. A subterranean artificial cave, writes our Coll correspondent, was found at Arnabost, Coll, some forty-five years ago. While workmen were repairing the public highway leading to the west end of the island, the pickaxe of one of them went suddenly down in the middle of the road, and upon the gravelly debris being cleared away, it was found that there was a subterranean opening or eave below. This was immediately explored, as far as could then be done, or as far as the opening was clear; but one of the lintels across, which sustained the earth above, broke some twenty feet or so from the end, and an obstruction of debris fell in, which choked the passage, and rendered farther advances impossible. At all events, it was not farther examined then, and the old schoolhouse at Arnabost happening to be at this very place, the foundations of which, possibly had something to do wish the breaking of the cross lintel referred to the work men were afraid farther explorations might injure the house, and, it was therefore left as it was. The cave would be about six or seven feet below the surface, about three feet wide, and perhaps, four feet high. A person of ordinary height could easily go along it stooping; it was built with unhewn stones on both sides, and paved at the bottom wish long stones or lintels lain across the top, and over this gravel and soil. There was an entrance from the end found sank like a water well, all built around with stones, and a large flat stone laid securely on the top to conceal it. A person could easily descend this little shaft as the ends of some of the stones were left a little protruding, forming steps. When first found this cave was perfectly clear and sweeped up to the obstruction formerly noted, and a little piece of pure gold was found on the floor, some twelve feet some 12 feet or so from the entrance. This piece is a curiosity in itself, being about six inches long, half an inch wide, and about a quarter thick. It was then twisted around something like the shape of a corkscrew, but with perfect symmetry and regularity. It was not ascertained scientifically at the time what could have been the use of it, though some who saw it were of opinion it belonged to the adornments of an officer, or leader of high rank. We believe the finders handed it to the late Mr Nicol MacLean, Crosspoll, but what became of it ultimately is not known. It was the opinion of all who saw this little cave at the time that it led to a larger chamber, either below the old schoolhouse or in its vicinity, but this has not yet been ascertained. The place, no doubt, had once been a lake dwelling or a fort, as the water was once around it though now drained off, and this cave must have been a place of concealment either of the garrison or its arms and effects. It is to be regretted it has not been fully explored and examined long ago, but as the road workmen have now come upon the end of it again through removing the gravel, we hope it will be more fully examined into. We have no doubt were the matter brought before the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, it would be scientifically explored throughout. We may mention that the skeleton of a warrior of gigantic proportions was found some 60 years ago in its vicinity. The helmet of brass or bronze was quite entire, and a number of small detached pieces of bronze were also found, apparently the remains of a cost of mail. The remains of a sword were also found, but that seemed to be of steel and was completely corroded. (Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 11 April 1896 )
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