Notes on Archæology and Kindred. Subjects.

THE CHURCH OF ST. EWAN AT BARÈVAN, NAIRNSHIRE. THE ruins of the old church of St. Ewan at Barèvan, in the wild district of Cawdor, are of great interest, and but little known. They stand at an elevation of 600 feet above the sea-level, and command a most noble panorama of ocean and mountain. Simple and plain though the old church

is, it contains the tombs of the chiefs of the land, the old Thanes of Cawdor, and the site of the present church was at an earlier period occupied by an older Culdee church, where the chiefs of that day were probably buried previous to the time of Macbeth. The ashes of that famous chief and king,

however, do not repose here, but lie where he was slain, under a great grey cairn on the bleak hillside of Lumphanan, in Aberdeenshire.

The first recorded name of the parish according to the new statistical account of Cawdor by its minister "appears to have been 'Barèwen' or Barèvan,' Ewan being the saint to whose tutelar protection it was entrusted, and Bar, a height, probably a corruption of Brae, as the old church, the walls of which are still extant, is situated in the upper and hilly part of the

parish." This name belongs to an early period, for the parish has been known as Calder or Cawdor for many hundred years, but the older name still clings to the ruined walls as the "Kirk of Barèvan." Although both Holinshed and Shakespeare call the name Cawdor, yet I believe that the real Gaelic name, and the one that was generally used by the people, was Calder down to not very distant times, and there is a very old charter extant

of one of the kings, to the "Thane of Calder, of that ilk." In Blaen's atlas of 1650 the name is "Cathel," a name still used by country people.

There is preserved in Cawdor Castle the ancient Celtic bell of the Culdee chapel that stood where the present ruins now are. It is a large square bell of hammered iron with loop handles. It was coated with bronze, and is very thin and worn.

The remains now standing have not been used as a place of worship since 1619, when the present church at Cawdor was built. The ruins, with their rows of long narrow tombstones, recall the tombs and walls at Iona. The

church at Barèvan evidently belongs to different periods. The lancet windows are early thirteenth century work, and the large traceried window may be as late as early fourteenth century. This kind of tracery, which is of the Decorated period, is common in Ireland, though not in Scotland. Still, though we may put down some of these windows as thirteenth century work, part of the walls appears to belong to a ruder and older period, as the masonry is particularly coarse, though very strong, owing to the quality of the lime cement used. I do not think any trace of the earlier Culdee church can be found. A discovery of cup-marked stones was made here by Mr. Jolly, H. M. Inspector of Schools. "On the 10th day of May,

1880," says Mr. Jolly, "I visited Barèvan in the hope of finding something interesting in its ancient gravestones, as indicated at a previous visit a year or two before, but in no hope of discovering these cups there, these being then unknown in such a connection." Within the church he observed close to the middle of the north wall a cup-mark on a tombstone. This stone was, like the other tombstones in the place, almost entirely buried in moss and grass, but on its being cleared, some fifteen cups became visible. An examination of the rest of the tombstones in the church led to the discovery of about a dozen tombstones with cup-marks. These cup-marked

Fig. 4. Tombstones at Barèvan.'

stones are plain slabs and have no inscriptions, unless there are such on the undermost side. They are much worn, but appear to have been originally quarried like the tombstones of the kings at Iona.

On my first two visits to the church I saw no reason to doubt that these stones were really cup-marked, as the indentations are so distinct, but on my third visit, and after a most careful study of the stones, I was inclined to doubt the fact of the cup-like marks being artificial. None of the cups have rings. The slabs are of sandstone, and contain many pebbles in them,

I The inscriptions on the rims of these stones are very much worn, but that on the left side appears to be lettering of about 1400 in date.

and it is very probable that many of these pebbles were worked out of the slab by rain and frost, and the holes worn smooth by the weather. Mr. Jolly was an excellent and careful observer, but I think he has erred in this matter. If these are really cup-marked stones, cup-marks must have come down to the Christian period. I do not think this was the case, and I do not think these cup-like marks at Barèvan are artificial, but were produced by the action of the weather on a peculiar conglomerate sandstone. "It appears that cup-marked stones have also been found at the churches of Fort George and Daviot," but they are also, I understand, pebbly stones from the same quarry as those at Barèvan.'

The side walls of the old ruin are nearly intact, but the gables are almost entirely removed. The church had been about 72 ft. long by 20 ft. wide. The piscina is a very curious one, and placed about 2 ft. to the east of the large window.

Fig. 5.-Cross on Tombstone at Barèvan.

Fig. 6.-Circular Device on Tombstone at Barèvan.

It is a double piscina, containing two basins. There are two portions of walls opposite it, which I take to have formed the site of the high altar of the old church. The walls of the church are very rude, and show no signs of plaster upon them as far as I can make out. That the building belongs both to earlier and later dates is evident, but I do not make out anything later than the fourteenth century. One window is formed from the top of the arches and mullion of one stone. lancet outside, and a semi-circular arch inside. known about the history of the church beyond the fact that the Thanes of Calder or Cawdor had their burial-places there from time immemorial down to a few centuries ago.

This window is a double There appears to be little

Outside the church on the north there is half exposed a very curious stone coffin, the sides of which are broken. It seems to have been intended for a body without a neck, or with a very short one, and is 6 ft. long. Near

'See Bain's Nairnshire, p. 16.