View NE showing a stone basin with coins & the eastern gable of Trumpan Church (Cille Conain), Ardmore Bay, Waternish, Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK
View NE showing a stone basin with coins & the eastern gable of Trumpan Church (Cille Conain), north of Ardmore Bay, Waternish, Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK. The hollowed out stone from the church is considered to have been a font or holy water stoup, but it may also have been used as a knocking stone for pounding grains & roots. The medieval church dedicated to St Connan & its surrounding township were abandoned after a massacre. On the first Sunday in May 1578 a raiding party of Macdonalds from Uist trapped a congregation of Macleods of Dunvegan inside the church & fired the thatch. One young girl escaped through the lancet window & ran to Dunvegan for help. An army of Macleods unfurled their charmed Fairy Flag & hurried to Trumpan. They caught & killed most of the Macdonalds, laid their bodies beside a drystone wall & buried them by pushing the dyke over on top of them: this became known as the Battle of the Spoiling of the Dyke. The Macdonald raid was in revenge for the deliberate suffocating with smoke by the Macleods of over 300 Macdonald residents of Eigg who were seeking refuge in a cave. This photograph was taken in July 1983 with wild flowers (most probably wild angelica) covering the church remains & surrounding burial ground; both have since been cleared, tidied up & presented.
Size: 2694px × 3780px
Location: Trumpan Church, Waternish Peninsula, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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