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Archaeological introduction to Colonsay
The following text comprises the Introduction to "Colonsay & Oronsay - An Inventory of the Monuments extracted from Argyll Volume 5. (The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland 1994). It provides a brief history of Colonsay and Oransay from prehistoric times with the emphasis on the historical evidence that has been found on Colonsay. The book is illustrated with numerous monochrome plates, plans and drawings, and describes all of the archaeological and historical evidence emanating from Colonsay and Oransay. It is an invaluable guide for anyone who wishes to visit the many sites of historic interest on Colonsay. It is available from the Colonsay Bookshop, price £9.95.
The observant visitor will notice that "Oronsay" is spelled with an "o" in the RCAHMS book and with an "a" on much of the rest of the site. Academic opinion seems to favour the "o" spelling and maintains that "Oronsay" has nothing to do with St Oran. However, local opinion and usage favours the "a" spelling and that has been adopted as standard for the rest of this site. Incidentally, this link might be of interest in association with use of either the Inventory or the text given below as it describes an actual visit to the island.
Visitors to the Colonsay Web site are granted permission to access this Crown Copyright material on condition that they must not copy, distribute sell or publish the material without first requesting written permission from RCAHMS.
CONTENTS
GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY
THE MESOLITHIC PERIOD (c.7000-3500 BC)
THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD (c.4000-2000 BC)
THE BRONZE AGE (c.2500-600 BC)
THE IRON AGE (c.600 BC - c.AD 400)
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD
THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER
The islands of Colonsay and Oronsay, connected by a narrow strand that becomes dry at low water, are among the most fertile of the Hebrides. They lie at the entrance to the Firth of Lorn, with Mull to the north, Islay to the south and Jura to the east; on the west, however, the islands are exposed to the full force of the Atlantic gales. The islands are formed of rocks which are described as Lower Torridonian in age, comprising limestone, phyllites, mudstones, flags, grits and conglomerates; plutonic intrusive rocks outcrop at Scalasaig, and to the north there are dykes and sills of lamprophyre and dolerite. Colonsay and Oronsay are at the south-west end of the Great Glen Fault, with the main line running to the east. The conspicuous ridging, which plays an important role in the topography of Colonsay, results from fault lines; the islands were greatly affected during the glacial period, when ice, radiating outwards from a centre on Rannoch Moor, flowed south-westwards over them. Remarkable, too, are the traces of pre-glacial marine erosion and of the lines of the pre glacial sea-cliffs, most notably between Scalasaig and Machrins, at Uragaig, and to the south of Balnahard. Traces of the so called '50 foot' raised beach may be seen at Uragaig and Balnahard, and the '100 foot' beach may be seen at Kilchattan. The marine-cut platforms and raised beaches frequently form level areas of well-drained land that have attracted settlement and cultivation from the earliest time to the present day. The Atlantic coastline has led to the development of sand-dune and machair landscapes that are more reminiscent of the Outer Hebrides than of the rest of Argyll.
The earliest settlement of the islands of Colonsay and Oronsay resulted from the arrival of groups of people from the adjacent mainland of Argyll after about 7000 BC. Their search for food as well as all the other necessities of life from among the natural resources of the area led to the exploitation of a wide variety of habitats. The Mesolithic period of Oronsay, in contrast to other parts of Argyll (apart from Jura), has been extensively studied in recent years and the artefacts, animal remains and radiocarbon dates recovered from excavations provide not only information about the way of life at the time but also a firm basis for the chronology of the period. Formerly, knowledge of the Mesolithic period on Colonsay was restricted to the discovery of a few microliths from Balnahard, but excavations at Staosnaig are now redressing the balance.
On Oronsay, Grieve's excavations between 1879 and 1882 at Caisteal nan Gillean, one of the island's distinctive 'shell-mounds', revealed for the first time a variety of bone and stone tools, as well as midden material, of Mesolithic date. Later excavations were undertaken at Cnoc Sligeach in 1884 and, more extensively, in 1913 by Bishop. Caisteal nan Gillean I is over 30m in diameter and 3.5m high, and Cnoc Sligeach is 25m in diameter and 2.5, high, though the height of the former is partly determined by a natural build-up of sand before the beginning of the occupation. Excavation has revealed layers of midden deposit, primarily limpet shells, as well as layers of blown sand. The objects recovered from the mound include barbed bone or antler points, bevelled pebble tools, as well as distinctive bone and stone implements. In 1940 Movius compared material from the Oronsay sites to that from Risga, Loch Sunart, and from sites around Oban bay and proposed the term 'Obanian' for this group, a term also adopted by Lacaille. The status of the 'Obanian' as an independent 'culture' has, however, been questioned, and this material may be merely one aspect of the complex economic pattern of Mesolithic period in Argyll.
Recent excavations on Oronsay by Dr Paul Mellars concentrated on elucidating the chronological, environmental and economic aspects of these sites; to this end, sampling was undertaken at Cnoc Sligeach, Caisteal nan Gillean I and II, Cnoc Coig and the Priory Midden, as well as more extensive excavation at Cnoc Coig. In addition, work at the mound known as Cnoc Riabhach suggests that this conspicuous conical hillock is in fact of natural origin.' The relationship of both Cnoc Sligeach and Cnoc Coig to the changing level of the post-glacial sea has been determined; it is likely-that at Cnoc Sligeach occupation began about the time of the maximum transgression or shortly after it, and at Cnoc Coig after the sea had begun to recede from its greatest extent. It is worth pointing out that, at the time of the maximum transgression, Oronsay may have comprised two separate land-masses, with much of the central part of the present island covered by the sea.
Radiocarbon determinations on material from Cnoc Sligeach, Cnoc Coig and Caisteal nan Gillean II indicate 'an intense and relatively short-lived exploitation of the island by Mesolithic communities centred around the middle of the fourth millennium BC, approximately the middle of the fifth millennium BC in calendar years. The excavations at Cnoc Coig showed that the midden was made up of two distinct types of deposit, described by Mellars as 'shell-heaps' (accumulations of loose shells, predominantly whole limpets, with relatively few artefacts) and 'occupation surfaces' (fragmented shells mixed with a greater amount of settlement debris). Circular arrangements of stakes, possibly intended to support windbreaks around cooking-hearths, were discovered, while stone settings have been tentatively interpreted as the bases of structures associated with the drying and, perhaps, the smoking of food. Modem excavation techniques have allowed a much wider variety of material to be recovered than was formerly possible, and the importance to the economy of fish, primarily saithe, has been discovered for the first time. With such detailed analysis it may also be possible to explore the relationships between the different tool-assemblages which appear in different environments, and to examine whether these belong to culturally distinct groups or to the same people exploiting a wide range of natural resources, which were only seasonally available.
By the early fourth millennium BC the economic pattern in Argyll was changing from one dictated by the search for food and other resources to one of permanent settlement based on farming. This new way of life was made possible by the introduction of new skills - particularly those relating to the rearing of stock and the growth of crops - which were of European and perhaps ultimately Near Eastern origin. This change in man's relationship to his natural environment, as areas of forest or scrub were cleared to make way for fields, may be illustrated by the different patterns of vegetation recorded in pollen diagrams. On Colonsay and Oronsay no settlement sites of the Neolithic period have, however, been recorded, nor are there examples of the burial cairns of the earliest agricultural communities, although these have been found on Islay and on Mull. A small number of stray finds including stone axes from Balnahard and leaf-shaped flint arrowheads from Druim Arstail, Oronsay, are evidence of the presence of Neolithic communities.
The archaeological sites that belong to the period spanning the later third millennium BC to the middle of the first millennium BC include burial cairns, cists, and standing stones as well as hut-circles and field-systems.
Little systematic work has been undertaken, and our information about the dates of most sites is very imperfect; the results of many of the excavations undertaken in the last century are inconclusive and the finds have frequently been lost. Two cairns probably contain central cist-burials of Bronze Age date. The unusual cairn at Scalasaig is, however, of less certain date; it may be related to the Late Bronze Age group known as kerb-cairns, or, as the finds possibly indicate, it could be much later. The absence of any accompanying grave-goods makes it difficult to be confident about the date of isolated cists; in several cases where the burial was indeed associated with pottery vessels or a flint object, the finds have been. subsequently lost. The presence of groups of such burials at Lower Kilchattan and Uragaig, for example, probably indicates the location of small farming communities during the earlier part of the second millennium BC. There are two cup-markings at the mouth of a cave at Uamh na Mine, though their date is not certain; the decorated stone found in a cist at Lower Kilchattan cannot now be located. Of the standing stones on Colonsay, the most impressive are those at Lower Kilchattan known as 'Fingal's Limpet Hammers'. The possibility that several of the standing stones have been used in connection with astronomical observations in prehistoric times has been raised on a number of occasions; archaeological evidence can neither prove nor disprove such suggestions, although the chronological span of the stones and the multiplicity of potential horizon-points that may be involved make such use unlikely. Stray finds of objects include an Early Bronze Age axe from Loch Fada and a Late Bronze Age sword from Beinn nan Gudairean.
Bronze Age Settlements and Field-Systems
Colonsay and Oronsay contain a significant number of settlements and field-systems which can be assigned to the Bronze Age. Until recently, our knowledge of Bronze Age settlements in Argyll has been restricted to amorphous sites, mainly found in coastal sand-dunes, and distinguished principally by the discovery of characteristic Early Bronze Age pottery exposed by erosion from middens in dunes, rather than by the survival of recognisable structures. For example, re-examination of the documentary evidence and the surviving artefacts has shown that there may have been an occupation site on the top of the Mesolithic shell-mound at Druim Arstail (or Cnoc Coig) on Oronsay, where sherds of Beaker and Food Vessel pottery have been found as well as barbed-and-tanged arrowheads. Of greater significance than such sand-dune sites, however, has been the discovery of numerous upland hut-circles and field-systems. The term hut-circle is here restricted to a free-standing house with a stone-faced wall; they range in diameter from 5m to 8m within walls which vary from 1.5m to 2.5m in thickness. The house walls show considerable variation in composition: from earth and stone banks to a wall built entirely of stone at Beinn Amicil. As is common in prehistoric houses of all periods, the entrance to the hut-circle is usually on the south are, in order to admit as much light as possible. Although the majority of the hut-circles comprise a simple penannular ring, several show some form of elaboration, particularly around the entrance. A stone forecourt, which presumably served as a working area, was noted at one location. In another instance a hook-like annexe was attached to the exterior, but it was not known whether this was roofed and used as a storehouse or was an open animal pen. A more complex arrangement occurs at Beinn Amicil; there the hut-circle has two semicircular annexes, of which one is entered independently but the second forms an antechamber outside the entrance to the hut-circle proper, and its external entrance is flanked by a porch-like structure. The overall plan is reminiscent of Hebridean black-houses, but, as each of the separate elements is found in association with hut-circles elsewhere on Colonsay, there is no reason to believe that this unusual site is not a prehistoric hut-circle.
The mainly undeveloped character of large areas of low-lying moorland has enabled a wide variety of early field systems and agricultural enclosures to survive. No field system has survived in its entirety, and the remains range from extensive systems of plots and enclosures integrated with hut circles to isolated fragments of banks or walls. Associated with a number of the field-systems are groups of small cairns composed of field-gathered stones, many of which were erected after the field-boundaries had been laid out and which, therefore, represent a secondary phase of land clearance. The various elements of the field-system appear to have served a variety of functions, with some of the small plots being used for agriculture or as paddocks, while the larger enclosures and linear divisions are more likely to have been associated with the control of stock, presumably cattle.
In the absence of excavation it is difficult to establish the date-range for the hut-circles and field-systems discussed above. Pottery finds from the sand-dune settlements indicate that they were occupied during the Early Bronze Age, but with the change in potting traditions at the end of that period, it is not certain how many of these sites continued in use after the middle of the second millennium BC. In contrast to the coastal sites, excavations at inland hut-circles on Jura and Islay have shown that there the houses were not built until the latter half of the second millennium BC and that they continued in use well into the first millennium BC. At such sites, however, there was evidence for an earlier phase of agriculture and presumably, therefore, for an earlier, but undetected, phase of settlement which might provide the chronological overlap with the type of settlements found in the dunes. The field systems are even more difficult to date than the houses, particularly as fields are now known to date from as early as the Neolithic period; little, however, is known of their development until the post-medieval period, and it is often impossible to distinguish on the basis of superficial remains between fields of the second millennium BC and the second millennium AD. Nevertheless, the field-systems have been included in this section because the majority are associated with what are almost certainly Bronze Age settlements, even although a small number may belong to either earlier or later periods.
The Iron Age fortifications on Colonsay and Oronsay fall into two categories, forts and duns, the definition of which is based primarily on differences in size and superficial appearance; although these categories are hallowed by archaeological tradition, as outlined in the volumes of the Inventory of Argyll, it must be stressed that no cultural or functional distinctions are intended. Since the original publication of this Inventory the chronology and classification of the fortifications, here described as forts and duns, have been discussed on several occasions, and such monuments have been set into the wider context of Atlantic Scotland in the later first millennium BC and the first half of the first millennium AD. Of the identity of the builders of such sites little can be said, but it is reasonable to assume that the islands belonged to a group known in classical sources as the Ebudae or Ebudes. There is some reason to believe that there was contact with contemporary societies in the Hebrides, which used cordon-decorated pottery of the Clettraval tradition, for examples of this style of pottery have been found at Dun Domhnuill on Oronsay; the discovery of a bead of lithomarge at Pairc Cnoc Riabhach, Oronsay (a distinctive type of stone from the northern shores of the Mediterranean, which was made into beads during the Roman period), suggests some contact with Romanised provinces to the south. In general, the distinction between the two categories of fortification is based on the size of the area enclosed, forts being generally larger and of less regular form than duns, but scale and form are frequently determined by the topographical limitations of the chosen location, and the distinction between the two should not be over-emphasised.
There are eight forts on Colonsay and one on Oronsay, and, although grouped together under the same heading, they include a variety of structural types. Dun Cholla, Dun Domhnuill, Dun Eibhinn, Dun Gallain, and Dun Meadhonach are all defended by massive stone walls, and some have annexes or outworks attached to them, while at Dun Uragaig and Meall Lamalum the defences have been constructed on a much slighter scale and no attempt has been made to enclose the whole of either site. Another unusual fort is to be found at Dun Tealtaig, where a comparatively meagre earth and stone rampart encloses a small and steeply sloping promontory. Several of the Colonsay forts, as well as Dun Domhnuill on Oronsay, contain circular or irregularly-shaped stone-footed houses which abut the defences; at Dun Domhnuill, Dun Eibhinn and Dun Meadhonach the buildings appear to post-date the collapse of the fort walls, but at Dun Tealtaig, Dun Uragaig and Meall Lamalum they could either be contemporary with the use of the fort or be of later date. At Dun Domhnuill part of a midden was exposed in the 19th century, revealing quantities of sea-shells and animal bones (including a centrally-perforated bovine metapodial, similar to that found at Dun Ban, Barra), as well as numerous sherds of Iron Age pottery (one of which probably belongs to the class known as Cleuraval ware). Another noteworthy feature at Dun Domhnuill is a stone basin cut into the living rock; a similar rock-cut basin is known from the Early Historic royal fortress at Dunadd, Mid Argyll, where it is thought to have been associated with the inauguration of members of one of the royal dynasties of Dal Riata. The five stone-walled forts mentioned above can be comfortably accommodated into the generally accepted range of Iron Age and later fortifications in Argyll; the date and affinities of Dun Uragaig and Meall Lamalum are, however, more difficult to gauge as no sites of this type have been excavated.
With some thirteen examples, Colonsay has a relatively high density of duns when compared with areas of similar size elsewhere in Argyll, a distribution pattern that may possibly reflect the fertility of the island. The duns are closely associated with land under recent cultivation, but they slightly outnumber the present total of farms. In general, the duns are of small size and several appear to be little more than but circles placed on rock-stacks. The dun at Queens Bay is exceptionally small, and it is questionable whether this structure could have functioned in the same way as the larger examples. Another small dun, Dunan nan Nighean, still retains part of the roof of its entrance-passage, and, when partially excavated, it was found to contain a secondary structure inserted into its west end; similar features have been noted at Dun Mor, Vaul, and Dun Ibrig, both on Tiree. The cave at Uamh Ur, Colonsay may also have been used for shelter during this period.
Ecclesiastical Monuments
By the middle of the first millennium AD Colonsay and Oronsay, like other parts of Argyll, had attracted settlers known as Scotti from the coastal area of Co. Antrim called Dal Riata; the date of the arrival of the earliest Scotti is not certain, but the Senchus Fer nAlban, 'History of the Men of Scotland', a 10th-century compilation which incorporates material from the mid-7th century, places Fergus Mor mac Ere, in whose person the dynasty of Dal Riata moved from Ireland to Scotland, at about the beginning of the 6th century. Colonsay and Oronsay were part of 'the kindred of Loam' (Cenel Loaim), the territory of which also included Mull and the adjacent mainland of Lorn and parts of Mid Argyll.
Most of the surviving archaeological evidence may be related to the activities of the Early Christian church, the most remarkable object being the cross from Riasg Buidhe, now in the garden of Colonsay House. The cross has a large human face in the top arm. Although this carving has no Scottish parallels, it belongs to a group represented in Ireland, where a symbolic representation of the Crucifixion is probably inspired by Mediterranean art, a derivation strengthened in this instance by the fish-like tail with its reference to a familiar symbol of Christ. Another free-standing cross is represented by a single arm preserved at Colonsay House. This ringless fragment, with its pronounced taper, cannot be closely paralleled among Early Christian free-standing crosses, but a relief cross with a similar top arm is carved on the cross-slab of uncertain date at Soroby, Tiree. The religious provision made for the lay population is indicated by the presence of Cill-names, e.g. Cill Mhoire, Oronsay, and by the survival of burial-grounds and small chapels of drystone or drystone-and-turf construction, some of which are associated with carved stones of Early Christian date. The cross-incised slabs incorporated in the Norse burial at Kiloran Bay suggest possible Christian influence on Norse settlers as early as the last quarter of the 9th century.
Viking Antiquities
The earliest references to the Norse presence in the seas around the islands occur in the last decade of the 8th century, when the Vikings appear as raiders and plunderers of monastic houses. Their presence on Colonsay and Oronsay from the early 9th to the 10th century is witnessed by burials of distinctively Scandinavian character. Some lay in naturally formed mounds as at Cam a' Bharraich, Oronsay, and Machrins, Colonsay, though others may have had no covering mound.
There are two main forms of grave: the long cist, as at Machrins; and the enclosure, as at Kiloran Bay, Colonsay, where the rectangular enclosure of upright stone slabs was covered by a boat. In 1891 boat-rivets, accompanied by a stone-sinker, were found in a bed of charcoal at Cam a' Bharraich, close to the burials, and this suggests that a boat may have been buried in connection with the funeral rites. The excavation at Machrins in the same year found rivets indicating the former presence of a boat near the group of grave-goods, but he did not conclude that the burial had been made in the boat. The large number of rivets found at Druim Arstail, Oronsay, may have come from a boat, but their position, about 100m from the site of the possible burial, prevents any assumption of a direct relationship between them. The sites at Cnoc nan Gall, Colonsay, and Lochan Chille Moire, Oronsay, have each produced a few rivets of similar form, which could have belonged to a saddle or a chest rather than to a boat. However, although too small a number of rivets survives . to indicate the former existence of a boat, the funerary ceremonies may have required only the token presence of a boat in the grave. Material discovered in the graves is drawn from a variety of insular and Scandinavian sources and may have been acquired through trade, gift-exchange or plunder. The origins of the bronze mounts on the weights from Kiloran Bay have been suggested as being Irish, Scottish and Anglo-Saxon, while the inspiration for the decoration on the enamelled mounts lies in Kufic lettering. Oval brooches, the characteristic artefact in women's graves, were produced in Scandinavian workshops. The penannular brooch from Machrins resembles those found in the St Ninian's Isle hoard, Shetland, and the mounts from Cam a' Bharraich were probably looted from a shrine similar to the Monymusk Reliquary. The grave-finds illustrate some aspects of contemporary life, but customs relating to the inheritance of property may have affected the choice of artefacts deposited . Evidence for cloth-making and clothworking comes from Cam a' Bharraich and impressions from linen clothing are also preserved on these brooches. A concern with trade is shown by the balance and weights from Kiloran Bay. It is probable that all the burials belong to the 9th and 10th centuries, although some of the objects from the graves, such as the mounts from Cam a' Bharraich and the brooch from Machrins date from the eighth century or before. The oval brooches of Berdal type from, Cam a' Bharraich are among the earliest examples of Viking material found in Scotland. The mid-9th century Northumbrian coins (stycas) from Kiloran Bay have been denionetised and provide only a rather distant terminus post quem for the burial. A number of single finds in sand-hill areas, mainly of pins, probably represent casual losses.
The extent and density of Scandinavian settlement in the area is difficult to assess. Place-names of Old Norse origin are found in both islands. The equal numbers of men's and women's graves, where the sex is known, give some indication of the presence of permanent settlers rather than of raiders. Only one habitation site, Machrins, Colonsay, can be dated to this period, and it is possible that occupation may have been only seasonal. The form of the houses differs from that more usually assigned to Scandinavian settlers, as at Brough of Birsay, Orkney, or Drimore, South Uist, and a derivation from native traditions has been postulated. Without excavation and radiocarbon dating it would not be possible to assign such structures to the time of Norse settlement.
Although fieldwork has revealed considerable evidence for the reoccupation of forts and duns, no structures that can plausibly be attributed to Scandinavian settlers have been identified. Colonsay and Oronsay, however, certainly formed part of the kingdom of Man and the Isles until the early 13th century.
During the Middle Ages these islands lay within the MacDonald Lordship of the Isles, Oronsay and a southern portion of Colonsay having been granted to Oronsay Priory. The MacDuffies or MacFies held Colonsay under the superiority of the MacDonalds and retained the island on lease from the crown following the forfeiture of the MacDonalds in 1493, Malcolm MacDuffie being styled 'Lord of Dunevin on Colonsay' on an Iona tombstone dated to the early 16th century. A later Malcolm MacFie was associated with Sir James MacDonald's unsuccessful attempt to regain the MacDonald inheritance in 1614-15; upon his release from custody after the rebellion, MacFie returned to Colonsay where he was murdered in 1623 by Coll Kittoch (MacDonald) and accomplices at the standing stone, Balaruminmore.
Later in the 17th century the islands were absorbed into the growing earldom of Argyll, but in 1701 were sold by the 10th Earl (later 1st Duke) of Argyll to Malcolm McNeill of the family of McNeill of Crear in Knapdale. The estate passed through various lateral branches of the same family until the death of Sir John Carstairs McNeill in 1904, and it was subsequently purchased by the 1st Lord Strathcona.
Ecclesiastical Monuments
The small Augustinian priory on Oronsay is remarkable among Scottish monastic houses (as opposed to friaries) for its foundation as late as the second quarter of the 14th century. Although reputedly founded by John 1, Lord of the Isles, its later history was dominated by the local MacDuffie and MacMhuirich families, who between them provided many of the priors and canons, and it shows no architectural links with the larger Benedictine house on Iona, also under the patronage of the Lords of the Isles.
Most of the buildings appear to have been completed during the 14th century, a period to which few other West Highland churches can be attributed, in an unadorned style which renders analysis difficult. The final layout of the monastic buildings was comparable, except in its lack of a west range, with that of Iona Nunnery, but there is evidence of an initial non-claustral phase, comprising the existing east range and projecting north chapel, together with a detached domestic building incorporating a reredorter. The present church of about 1400, with its unicameral plan and modest scale, belongs to the tradition of parochial rather than monastic architecture, except for a shallow projection, perhaps a sacristy, on the north side of the sanctuary.
The continuing vitality of the community, even after the downfall of the Lordship of the Isles at the end of the 15th century, is shown by its establishment of a monumental sculpture workshop and by various structural alterations. These included the addition to the church of a MacDuffie mortuary chapel and the lower stage of an intended west tower, and the partial reconstruction of the cloister-arcades. The latter work is in a remarkably primitive style, with slabpillars (presumably derived from the normal Irish type, having two columns linked by a solid 'web'), two of which bear inscriptions naming the mason and the canon who superintended the work. The stone altar with its original slab, although possibly reconstituted in the 17th century, is a rare survival, preserved perhaps as an indirect result of the activity in the 1620s and 1630s of Franciscan missionaries based in Co. Antrim.
Only parts of the small medieval parish church at Kilchattan, which served both islands, are preserved. It is possible that the footings at Cill Chaitriona, where the use of lime mortar cannot be established, are in fact of Early Christian date.
The importance of the patronage exercised by the MacDonald Lords of the Isles is also shown in monumental sculptures A distinctive school of richly ornamented sculpture developed on Iona during the 14th century, and the important collection of medieval carved stones at Oronsay Priory include several fine graveslabs with the characteristic foliage-omament of the Iona school. Outstanding among the products of these masons are the Oronsay Cross, carved at the end of the 15th century, and the massive effigy of an armed man with its remarkable details of armour and subsidiary figures. Of the several local schools which developed in mainland Argyll, the most accomplished was based in the Loch Sween area, where much of the schist used for these monuments was quarried, and it is represented by one graveslab. The Oronsay Cross was one of the last monuments of the Iona school, whose decline at the end of the 15th-century may be associated with the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles and the loss of the independent status of Iona Abbey; the only important workshop operating during the first half of the 16th-century was the Oronsay school. Eighteen of the twenty-six known products of the school are at the priory, and they include the elegant graveslab of Murchadh MacDuffle (d. 1539) and the detailed low-relief effigies of Prior Donald MacDuffie (d.1554-5) and Canon Bricius MacMhuirich. The small figure of Canon Bricius MacDuffie, apparently added to a sword-decorated slab held in stock, complements the information derived from inscriptions about the production-methods of the school.
In the era of reformed worship the problem of too few ministers, serving churches which were inconveniently situated for most of the parishioners, and in the case of Jura and Colonsay parish facing great difficulties of communication, was not solved until the 19th century. Colonsay Church, built in 1802-4 by Michael Carmichael, a mason architect who had been employed on minor work at Inveraray, is of simple rectangular plan embellished with a pedimented frontispiece.
Fortification
There is no clearly identifiable evidence of medieval castellar construction, but the prehistoric fort of Dun Eibhinn contains a series of small rectangular buildings, some of which may be ascribed to the medieval period. The fortification on an island on Loch an Sgoltaire is a product of Sir James MacDonald's rebellion in 1614-15 and is closely comparable in design and character to the island-castle on Loch Gorm, Islay, as it was reconstructed by MacDonald in the same period of rebellion. In each case the surviving remains consist of a quadrangular layout with thick curtainwalls and solid drum-bastions at the comers, all crudely built of drystone-boulder and slab masonry. The nucleus of the Loch an Sgoltaire site is appreciably smaller but is set within an outer pentagonal enclosure which incorporates five more bastions and an arched gateway. Much of the earlier work here was reconstructed or repainted in the 19th century, when a summer-house was inserted in the inner enclosure.
Colonsay House
Colonsay House, the major domestic building, grew up in stages around a two-storeyed laird's house originally built about 1722, but, despite its modest size, the general appearance and layout of this small mansion correspond more closely with mainland conventions than any other house on Islay or Jura.
Farms, Townships and Shielings
As elsewhere in the Highlands and Islands, the traditional unit of pre-improvement rural settlement was the multiple- or joint tenancy farm. Ruined townships are to be found in most parts of the islands, sometimes in close proximity to sites of considerable antiquity such as Dun Eibhinn. In their existing forms, however, the vast majority of surviving townships, here as elsewhere, are demonstrably of late 18th- or 19th-century date, their distribution and size reflecting a period of general population growth until the 1830s; the sites of a number of them are shown on an estate plan based upon a survey made in 1804. Associated with many of these parent townships, and forming an integral part of traditional transhumance practices, was the shieling or summer grazing. All-stone or stone-and-turf footings of buildings that could have served as shieling huts have been noted on Colonsay, where distances between 'wintertown' and shieling can never have been very great.
The individual buildings that make up surviving farming townships are not dissimilar in character from those found in many of the medieval castles and island-dwellings in adjacent parts of Argyll. Surviving fragments of scarf-jointed crucks were noted on Colonsay at Riasg Buidhe, and some much-altered byre-dwellings have also been noted in the course of this survey.
Among known physical and pictorial evidence, however, the most widely prevailing house-type is the later gable-ended, three-bay thatched cottage that occurs singly or in terraced groups. Lord Teignmouth observed that the tenant farmhouses on Colonsay contained 'two, and sometimes three, good dwelling apartments, a store-house or barn, a byre and perhaps another apartment built in a run'. He further noted that the laird of Colonsay allowed £10 or £12 to the tenants who equipped their houses with chimneyed fireplaces, 'yet the people, even when they have their chimney, will not make use of it, placing their fire on the floor on the usual pretext that the wee things may be able to get round it'. Some of the dwelling-units at the former fishing township of Riasg Buidhe (No.426) have chimneyed fireplaces that are clearly of secondary construction.
The first half of the 19th century witnessed the reorganisation of many traditional agricultural holdings into single consolidated tenancies. One of the most conspicuous features of the larger 19th-century farmsteadings on Colonsay and Oronsay is the roofed octagonal horse-gang, shown complete with drive mechanisms and threshing-mills in a series of early 20th-century drawings.
Industrial and Engineering Works
Traces of at least one horizontal mill are visible on Colonsay. Coastal industries included the manufacture of kelp and salt; the shores of Colonsay and Oronsay evidently had a more favourable tidal reach for kelp than those of Islay, but production generally in this area was on a smaller scale than on other Hebridean islands such as Tiree. Possible remains of kelp-burning activities have been found at, for example, Port Sgibinis. At Scalasaig there is a jetty of early 19th-century date with a sea-wall and a rounded breakwater.
Crown Copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
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