Alternative Names Rubha A'Bhearnais; Clyvernock; 'Cashel'
Site type CASHEL (POSSIBLE), ENCLOSURE
Canmore ID 23070
Site Number NM83SW 2
NGR NM 8426 3127
Council ARGYLL AND BUTE
Parish KILMORE AND KILBRIDE
Former Region STRATHCLYDE
Former District ARGYLL AND BUTE
Former County ARGYLL

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Archaeological Notes

NM83SW 2 8426 3127.

(NM 8426 3127) Cladh a' Bhearnaig (NAT)
Cashel (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

This could be a cashel. The name 'Cladh a' Bhearnaig' suggests that it may have been subsequently used as a burial ground, though no evidence of any graves was noted.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 scale.
Visited by OS (W D J) 13 November 1969.

The remains of what may have been an early medieval monastic site are to be seen on a raised beach near the extreme north point of the island of Kerrera. A roughly circular enclosure, measuring about 60 metres in diameter is divided by a curving wall into two unequal portions, and within the enclosure there are the fragmentary foundations of several structures. The enclosure wall is best preserved in the NE where it is constructed of dry-stone masonry with substantial facing blocks, and has a width of 1.9 metres. The entrance is on the north.
In the south, the wall is interrupted by a rectangular building measuring 18 metres SW-NE by 9.1 metres trans- versely with walls varying in thickness from 1.4 to 2.2 metres. About 14 metres to the NW, there is another rectangular building measuring 12.2 by 7.6 metres overall. Associated with these structures are traces of two smaller sub-rectangular or oval buildings.
The lesser portion of the enclosure, in the NE, which is demarcated by a stony bank 1.4 metres thick, contains within the SE angle a stone-lined pit measuring 2.6 by 1.9 metres internally.
James Dorret's map of Scotland published in 1750 describes the site as 'Clyvernock, an old monastery'.
The internal structures are probably of a later date than the enclosure wall and it is likely they represent a domestic re-occupation of the site.
RCAHMS 1975, visited June 1971.

RCAHMS (1975) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the ancient monuments: volume 2: Lorn, Edinburgh
Page(s): 119-20, No. 232 plan fig. 107 Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.INV/19