14 COLONSAY 



carved in relief the figure of a knight in armour, is supposed 

 to have been to the memory of Sir Alexander M'Donald of 

 Loch Alsh, who was murdered in the prior's house in 1498 by 

 M'lan of Ardnamurchan. The cloisters, which were described 

 by Pennant, have been partially restored. Of the many 

 crosses which once adorned the precincts of the priory, one 

 fine specimen is still standing. Hewn from a single stone, 

 it is fully 1 2 feet in height, and elaborately carved. It is 

 believed to have been erected to the memory of Colin, a 

 prior who died in 1510. Another cross (M'Duffie's Cross) 

 had been fixed in a cairn of stones on the way to the landing- 

 place. It is said that the bodies of the heads of the M'Duffie 

 family were rested for some moments on this cross as they were 

 taken to the chapel for burial. 



The lodhlann-mhor (large corn-yard) is a green, flat-topped 

 mound to the south of the priory. From excavations made, 

 it is believed that this was a circular enclosure formerly 

 used for stacking grain, and that the shifting sand gradually 

 filled it up and gave it its present striking outline. In the 

 course of excavations carried on in various parts of Oransay, 

 finds of antiquarian interest were obtained. Various 

 ornamental articles bronze brooches and ring, beads, etc. 

 were found in a grave at Carnan-a-Bharraich (Barra-man's 

 Cairn). The remains of animals, shellfish, etc., found in 

 an ancient kitchen-midden at Caisteal-nan-Gillean, and 

 enumerated by Mr Symington Grieve in his treatise on the 

 Great Auk (pp. 54, 55), indicate what the bill of fare of our 

 ancestors at different periods consisted of. Bones of the Eed 

 Deer (Fiadh), Wild Boar (Fiadh Thorc ; Cullach), Marten 

 (Taghan), Eat, Seal, and Otter 1 (Beist-Dubh; Dobhran), 



1 The Otter, at one time common, but absent from the island for 

 close on half a century, has recently been seen in the vicinity of its 

 old haunts at Port-na-Cuilce. Places in various parts of the island 

 Rubha-an-Dobhrain, Glaic an Taghain, Dunan-a-Chullaich, etc. 

 are named after animals some of which have become extinct. 



