Sunshine uncovers hidden history

St Kilda is owned by the National Trust for Scotland

Archaeologists working on St Kilda have found a previously undiscovered cross-inscribed slab because of the way the sun lit the stone.

Staff from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland found the slab had been used as a drain cover.

It was found in Village Bay, Hirta, one of the most investigated sites owned by the National Trust for Scotland.

Previously inhabited, only workers live on the island archipelago.

Nearby chapel

Two other cross-incised slabs have already been recorded in the area - one built into a house built in the 1860s and the other into the roof of one of the cleits, a drystane storage sheds.

It is thought that the three stones came from the nearby chapel or graveyard.

Strat Halliday, the archaeologist from RCAHMS who discovered the cross, said: "I was literally just watching where I was putting my feet, and there it was, clear as daylight."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version