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Latitude: 55.7854 / 55°47'7"N
Longitude: -6.2397 / 6°14'22"W
OS Eastings: 134298
OS Northings: 662818
OS Grid: NR342628
Mapcode National: GBR BFZF.8R1
Mapcode Global: WGYGV.4V05
Entry Name: Newton House,barrows and enclosures NW of,Islay
Scheduled Date: 11 February 1993
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM5599
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: enclosure (domestic or defensive); Prehistoric ritual and funera
Location: Killarow and Kilmeny
County: Argyll and Bute
Electoral Ward: Kintyre and the Islands
Traditional County: Argyllshire
The monument consists of extensive cropmarks which have been revealed by aerial photography on the uppermost of a series of fossil river terraces to the NW of Newton House: about 18 annular and penannular features, two large sub-circular enclosures and about 20 amorphous marks.
Excavation of a small area of the cropmark complex, in advance of a road alignment (yet to be initiated), produced evidence for three distinct phases of prehistoric land use. Mesolithic activity, dating from the early 6th millennium BC, probably represents a series of flint-working sites or dwellings situated close to the seaward edge of the terrace, perhaps on the edge of an inland loch.
Evidence for neolithic activity consisted of a series of fence-lines and pits associated with a flint scatter and neolithic pottery. The last phase of activity almost certainly dates to the Early Christian period: three annular ditches with central rectangular pits, aligned from E to W, which almost certainly contained inhumations and suggest that there is a major Early Christian cemetery on this site.
The area to be scheduled measures 450m from E to W by 390m
transversely to include the cropmarks and an area around in which associated remains may survive, but excluding the excavated area, as marked in red on the attached map.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because it represents the vulnerable remains of multiperiod activity, extending from the Mesolithic to the Early Christian period, upstanding equivalents of which have not been recognised in the W of Scotland. Of particular importance is the probable Early Christian cemetery and any associated remains, which have the potential to provide information about burial ritual as well as to shed light on the introduction of Christianity to west Scotland form Dalriada.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NR 36 SW 4.
References:
McCullagh, R. (1989) 'Excavations at Newton, Islay', Glasgow Archaeol J 15 (1988-89), 23-51.
RCAHMS (1984) Inventory for Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay, No. 31.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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