OS1/6/4/65

List of names as written Various modes of spelling Authorities for spelling Situation Description remarks
THE CAULDRON 227.03 Descend to the ruins of old Kingarth Church, Two cemetries belong to it, a higher and a lower; the last was allotted for the interment of females alone; because in old times, certain women being employed to carry a quantity of holy earth brought from Rome lost some by the way, and so incurred the penalty for their negligence; that of being buried seperate from the other sex. Near this place is a circular enclosure called the Devils Cauldron; it is made of stone of excellent masonr, but without mortar, having the inside faced in the most smooth and regular manner; The walls at present are only 7 ft [feet] 6 in [inches] high, but are 10 feet in thickness; on one side is an entrance, wide at the beginning but grows gradually narrower as it approaches the area which is 30 feet diameter, This I presume could never have been designated as a place of defence as it is situated beneath a precipice, from whose summit the inmates might instantly have been oppressed by stones, or missile weapons perhaps it was a sanctuary, for the name of the church Kingarth implies, Kin, chief or head, Garth, a sanctuary; the common word for places of refuge, Girth being corrupted from it Pennants Tour of 1772
WALL [The Nunnery] 227.03 The ruins of the church of St. Blane stand on an Artificial mound, whose level top is enclosed by a stone wall 500ft [feet] in circumference. The whole of this space which was used as a cemetery, is arched with masonry about 2ft [feet] beneath the surface & from it there runs built passage which seems to have been underground to a smaller & lower enclosure of 124ft [feet] in circumference, locally known as "The Nunnery" & apparently used as a burying ground for females. The church is approached on the north by a flight of steps leading from a neighbouring wood in which there is a circular building, sometimes styled "the Devil's Cauldron" comprised of rude stones 10 ft [feet] in height, 30 ft [feet] in diameter, with walls 9 ft [feet] thick & an entrance 9 ft [Feet] wide. It stands at the base of a rocky ridge 50 ft [feet] high. from each end of which there runs out a wall supposed to have marked the limits of a Sanctuary, & founding perhaps the remains of the metae certae et apparentes attributed to St Blane. The Church & reputed nunnery are marked by Blaeu as Kilblain and Marg-na-heglish. Origines Parochiales

Continued entries/extra info

[page] 65

"There are three churches in the parish. One
of them is built near the south end, between the
year 1000 and 1100. It is now almost in ruins."
Old Stat [Statistical] Account

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DANIALSAN, Brenda Pollock

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