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Jura, An Carn

Corn Drying Kiln (Medieval) - (18th Century), Cup Marked Rock(S) (Prehistoric), Township (Medieval) - (18th Century)

Site Name Jura, An Carn

Classification Corn Drying Kiln (Medieval) - (18th Century), Cup Marked Rock(S) (Prehistoric), Township (Medieval) - (18th Century)

Canmore ID 38671

Site Number NR69SE 2

NGR NR 6811 9353

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38671

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Jura
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

NR69SE 2 centred 681 935

(NR 6809 9352) An area of cup marks was located on Jura in 1971, having some 120 small cups on eight flattish bedrock exposures.

NR 681 936. Many, if not all of these markings are not prehistoric but of comparatively recent origin, probably no later than the adjacent settlement (visited by RCAHMS June 1975) called An Carn, a once-sizeable settlement, cleared by 1868, according to oral tradition.

Name Book 1878; J Mercer 1974

Mercer notes a grain-drying kiln at NR 681 935, near Carn village ruins.

J Mercer 1972

An Carn (name verified), a deserted settlement comprising eight buildings, several enclosures and a corn-drying kiln, situated above an area of lazy bed cultivation.

The cup-marks noted by Mercer, on the outcrop rocks immediately west of the settlement at NR 6809 9352, appear to be genuine examples; no other explanation for these features is forthcoming, though one bowl- shaped depression, 0.2m in diameter, is probably for grinding corn. The marks, of which over 110 were recognised, occur on the upper surface of the rocks; some are unusually well-preserved with a conical rather than bowl-shaped profile. The pronounced strata of the rocks is such as to have created a ripple effect on the surface where the cup marks occur; this is unusual as the examples on the mainland in Kintyre were carved onto relatively smooth surfaces. The frost action on the strata has damaged a number of the cup marks.

Surveyed at 1/10,000.

Visited by OS (NKB) 7 May 1978

(Cruck-slot noted).

G Stell 1981

A township comprising seven unroofed buildings, one roofed building, two enclosures and a lime kiln is depicted on the OS 1st edition 6-inch map (Argyllshire 1880, sheet clix).

Six unroofed buildings and three conjoined enclosures are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1981).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH), 20 October 1998.

Activities

Measured Survey (1974)

Surveyed at 1:400. Published at 1:1000 (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 303)

Field Visit (May 1980)

NR 680 935. Nine separate groups of cup-markings have been recorded on rock outcrops immediately W of the township of An Carn. They are here numbered as in Mercer's report and the position of each group is shown on the plan of the township (RCAHMS 1984, No. 418).

(1) Scattered over a rock surface measuring 1.7m by 1.1m, twenty-nine cups, the largest 90mm by 55mm in diameter and depth respectively, the smallest 40mm by 10mm, but most of them 60mm by 25mm. In two instances a large and a small cup appear to be linked by a shallow groove.

(2) Some 3m NNW of (1), three small cups in a line SW-NE.

(3) On a heather-covered outcrop 8.5m to the N, a pair of cups (60mm in diameter and 20mm deep) about 70mm apart; at a point 1.1m to the SE, a single cup 40mm in diameter and 20 mm deep.

(4) Some 9m to the NNE, on a flat rock-sheet measuring 3.2m by 1-0m, at least forty-seven possible cup-marks (60mm in diameter and 20mm in depth, on average), some very worn; and a flat-bottomed rock-cut basin (200mm in diameter and 80mm deep).

(5) On the lowest shelf of the outcrop 36m to the NNE, there are thirteen possible cup-markings, very worn.

(6) Some 6m NNE of (5), a single cup-mark 50mm in diameter and 10mm deep.

(7) On an outcrop 2m NW of (5), and a little above it, a small group of depressions, all very worn and faint, which may possibly be cup-markings.

(8) About 11m to the NNE, there are two cup-markings, the SW example measuring 45mm in diameter and 15mm in depth, the other (230mm to the NE) 35 mm in diameter and 10mm in depth.

(9) About 15m to the NW, on an outcrop measuring 2.3m by 2.0m adjacent to the wall of one of the enclosures of the township, there is a group of seventeen cup markings from 60mm to 70 mm in diameter and up to 30mm deep, and a single isolated cup-mark 100mm in diameter and 30mm deep.

RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1980.

Field Visit (May 1981)

NR 681 935. The ruins of this small township occupy a terrace about 200 m from the W shore of the Sound of Jura, and at an elevation of about 60m OD. The terrace slopes gently from NE to SW, and the upper part of the site is bounded to the NW by a low ridge with occasional outcrops of rock, some of which, as well as isolated rock-surfaces on the lower part of the terrace, bear cup-marks (see below). The outlook to the S is restricted by a low knoll capped by a marker-cairn, but otherwise the site enjoys a wide prospect of the Sound of Jura. A small stream runs through a valley to the W, and the intervening ground, as well as the hillside to the SE, show extensive remains of rig-cultivation. A corn-drying kiln situated immediately W of the stream now lies within a plantation of early 20th-century origin. A small bay some 250m NE of the township affords one of the few boat-landings on the NE coast of Jura, and excavation of a cave at the head of the bay (NR 683 936) produced finds of late medieval date. (Information from the late Mr J Mercer. The finds included an arrowhead of medieval type, a pair of iron shears 0.1m in length and a plack of James VI. The lower levels could not be excavated because of massive slabs of fallen rock).

Most of the buildings are of drystone construction, although there are traces of clay-mortar in some of them, and the walls stand in places to 2m but normally to about 1m in height. In many cases the position of doorways is uncertain, and it is difficult to identify the uses of individual structures. Most of them are square-angled and were probably gable-ended, although a slot for the end-cruck of a hipped roof is preserved in building (A1), which has one rounded angle. Each of the buildings is set with its long axis from NW to SE, and with one exception (B) they form a line from NNE to SSW, which may be divided into two groups. The central building in the SW group (A2) appears to have been a dwelling; it is divided by a partition-wall with a connecting opening, and there may have been opposed entrance-doorways in the NW room. To the NW it is connected by a curving turf-dyke to a very ruinous outbuilding (A3) erected on the remains of an earlier structure, while to the SW is another small building (A1) with an attached enclosure. The second group of buildings is ranged along the NW side of an elongated rectangular enclosure bounded by a turf-and-stone dyke, and having annexes to S and NE. The two larger buildings (C1, C4) appear to have been dwellings, although the NW end of the former has subsequently been rebuilt, probably to house stock. The lintel of a doorway in the intruded partition-wall remains in situ, and an attached stone-walled enclosure to the SW was probably added at the same period. At the NE end of this group, the remains of a small round-angled building (C5) are overlain by the NE annexe of the large enclosure. Two other small enclosures (D1, D2) are set in sheltered hollows on the ridge NW of the township buildings. The corn-drying kiln, some 80m to the W of the township, is similar to that recorded at Torran Dubha, Ardlussa. The unenclosed drystone bowl measures 5.6m in overall diameter, and the flue is extended for 1m to the SE by a block of masonry.

The township of 'Karn' is indicated on Pont's map of about 1590 and appears, as 'Cairns', on subsequent maps up to the early 19th century. (Blau's Atlas 1620; Langlands County map of Argyll; Thomson, Atlas of Scotland) However, it is not named in surviving documents, and was presumably included within the adjacent lands of Ardlussa and Knockintavill (Barnhill), the property until 1737 of the MacLeans of Lochbuie and thereafter of members of the family ofMcNeill of Colonsay.(Budge 1960) No occupants are named in the census records of 1841, and the township was presumably abandoned before that date.

RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1981

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