Ancient headstone in Cille bharra cemetery Isle of Barra outer Hebrides, Scotland. SCO 7003
At Cille Bharra today, there is much left to suggest the vicissi¬tudes of a rich and ancient past. The main church itself, flanked to the east by its two `chapels', has lost its east and west gables, but the north and south walls rise to a height of up to eight feet in places. On the north side, the low door, which may be of twelfth-century date, appears to have been the main entrance to the building. The building appears originally to have terminated a few feet to the west of this door, and subsequently to have been extended westwards. A holywater stoup rests on the ground east of the doorway, but it is not clear that this was its original position. The base of the altar can still be seen at the east end; it was on this that Saint Finnbarr's wooden statue was displayed in the seventeenth century. To the north-east stands the sixteenth-century burial-aisle known as the `north chapel' or `Saint Mary's chapel'. It has recently been re-roofed by the Scottish Development Department to house the late-medieval carved tomb¬stones, which formerly lay in the churchyard. The runic stone, which also once stood in the churchyard at Cille Bharra, was long ago removed to the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh for safekeeping; it is still, on display there, while a copy is displayed in the `north chapel' at Cille Bharra. The west gable of the `south chapel' is still standing, but little else remains of this building apart from foundations, and its exact age cannot now be determined. The burial-ground has been used to house the remains of many generations of Barra people; in it is buried the writer and novelist Compton MacKenzie: The buildings and churchyard are in the care of the Ancient Monuments division of the Scottish Development Department, and are tended by the parish priest of Northbay.
Size: 3732px × 5619px
Location: Cille Bharra, Isle of Barra, Outer Hebrides, Western Isles, Highlands and Islands. Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., 1266, 12th, 1330, ages., alba, antiquities, appears, barra, belief, bharra, bishops, carved, cathedral, ceded, cemetery, century, chapel, christianity, church, cille, continuous, diocese, dwelling, edinburgh, english, existence, fifteenth, god, head, hebrides, house, isle, isles, late-medieval, line, living, man, mary, medieval, middle, museum, national, norse, occupied, parish, part, pirates, place, portrait, religon, ruled, saint, scotland, scottish, seized, skye, sotland, stone, stones, tomb, typical, upright, western, worship
