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Chraidh am Bailegrunail (Uamh)

Lismore, Balygrundle, Argyllshire.

A small raised beach sea cave at the foot of a 15 m cliff. Below a fissure in the rock (possibly an eroded volcanic cill), which extends the full height of the cliff, a 5 m high 3 m wide triangular entrance rapidly decreases in size to a 1 m high 0.3 m wide slot 10 m in, ending abruptly in a moss and fern slope. The floor is mud and rocks possibly deliberately flattened. There a some areas of tufa deposit on the side walls (one section may have been deliberately removed). Outside the cave beyond a small talus slope is a pile of large boulders and a small group of hawthorn trees.

A story is told of a piper and his dog having entered this cave - Uamb-Chraidh-at Bailegrunail, intending to come out at Uamh-an-duine, which is at Creaganaich. It is alleged that the piper was heard playing right across the island, the music ascending through earth-holes - talamh-tuill - on the way the burden of his lament being:-

Mis air airin baidh 'us burrail,

Measg nan glumag eagalaich,

Uamh Chraidh am Baile-ghrunail,

Uamh-an-Duin' an Creaganaich.

I [am] drowning and howling,

Amongst [sic between] the horrid pools,

The Pain Cave in Bailegrunail [The Cave of Pain at Baligrundle],

The Man Cave in Creaganaich [The Cave of the Man at Creaganaich].

The dog came out at Uamb-an-Duine hairless and sightless, but the playing ceased and the piper never emerged. The conclusion is that the cave contained impassable pools, in one of which the piper was drowned. Similar stories are told of many other places from Ireland to India and from Britain to Japan, and probably with as much foundation in fact.

Alternative Names: Balygrundle Craig (Cave of), Uamh nan Cnaimh, Cave of Pain (at Balygrundle), Uamh Dun nan Cradh Cave, Cave of the Bone Fort, Cradh (Uamh nan), Uamh nan Cradh, Cave of Bones

Notes: GPS coordinates John Crae (9/9/2019)

Marked on 1" OS map as Uamh nan Cradh.