hebrides-skye-small-isles-1928/02_235

Transcription

BRACADALE] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION -- [BRACADALE

22 inches in diameter and 7 inches in thickness.
On the top is a circular stone of about 11 inches
diameter and 3 inches thickness with a festooned
moulding round the outside and pierced by a
hole in the centre 3 1/2 inches square.
There is also a moulded stone, possibly part
of a lintel or jamb.

Syke [Skye] xxxvii. 15 May 1915.

475. Grave Slabs, Bracadale. - In the kirk-
yard beside the parish church of Bracadale,
near Struanmore, which is said to be built
near or on the site of the ancient chapel of
St. Assind, ¹ are two grave slabs with a claymore
and foliageous designs carved on each. One is
in a good state of preservation and measures 6
feet 2 inches in length, 19 1/2 inches in breadth at
the top, and 17 inches at the foot. In the upper
portion is a foliageous cross, and under it is a
claymore with drooping quillons and a fan-
shaped pommel divided into seven ribs. On one
side of the sword-blade is a running scroll of
foliageous work and on the other side is a scroll
of a more open floriated and foliageous design.
A portion of the slab at the foot is much worn
and any ornamentation, if it ever existed, has
been obliterated (Fig. 246.) A third stone,
6 1/4 by 2 feet, bears in high relief the effigy of a
warrior clad in a surcoat. The head rests on
a cushion. The sword lies along the body.

1 Orig. Par., vol. ii., part I, p. 357.

Skye xxviii. (unnoted). 20 May 1915.

476. Church, Merkadale, Loch Harport. -
In a small churchyard on the southern shore of
the inner end of Loch Harport, at Merkadale, are
the ruins of a church orientated nearly east-
north-east and west-south-west. The walls,
built of stone and shell lime, are reduced to
an average height of from 2 to 3 feet, and
measure 2 feet 3 inches in thichness [thickness] at the
sides and 2 feet 7 inches at the gables. The
building is oblong, measuring internally 24 feet
9 inches in length and 11 feet 8 inches in breadth.
The door, of which only the right jamb can be
traced, is near the western end of the south
wall. The windows have entirely disappeared.

Skye xxxiv (unnoted). 17 May 1915.

DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.
(BROCHS.)

477. Dun Sleadale, Talisker. - Dun Sleadale
is a broch which though in a ruinous condition
is rather better preserved in parts than the
great majority of this class of buildings in
Skye. It occupies the south-western and
higher extremity of a short, narrow, rocky
ridge, in a high glen about 400 yards west of
the Sleadale Burn, barely 3/4 mile south of Talisker
House, at an elevation of over 500 feet above
sea-level. To the west there is rising ground,
so that the sea, although little more than 1/2 mile
distant, is not within sight. In this respect
it is unlike the other Skye brochs. The ridge
rises some 20 feet on the west and about
35 feet on the east above the hillside.
The outer face of the wall stands 8 feet high
on the south-east and 5 feet on the east and
north-west; on the south-west only the
foundation course remains, and on the south-
south-east where there is a high knob of rock
it has disappeared. In the interior there is a
great mass of fallen stones hiding much of the
structure. Building is visible along nearly the
whole of the northern arc, and, at the north-
north-west it stands 4 feet above 7 feet
of fallen stones. Towards the south-east
about 4 feet remains in position, but this is
obscured by debris. The internal diameter
varies from 39 feet from north-west to south-
east to 37 feet 6 inches from north-east to south-
west. The wall at its present summit generally
is about 9 feet thick, but at the entrance, which
is placed towards the east-north-east, it is
10 feet 3 inches thick, this measurement being
nearer the foundation. At the outside the
entrance passage is 2 feet 10 inches wide, but
about 3 feet in there are checks on either side;
that on the north side is best preserved, measur-
ing 6 inches in depth. Between the checks
and the inside the walls curve slightly, giving a
width of 4 feet 2 inches about the centre of the
passage, and 3 feet 1 inch on the inside. The
interior of the entrance is blocked with stones,
but one lintel remains in position. In the wall
some 3 feet 6 inches to the right of the entrance
the end of a narrow gallery is seen, while on the
opposite side, at a distance of 5 feet, part of
another gallery with its lintel stones in position

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