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St. Baldred's Cave

Tantallan, Auldhame, Whitekirk, Tyninghame, East Lothian.

Raised Beach seacave faces E. Width at entrance 7 m.

The cave is 23' wide, 15' high and 20' deep. There is a pillar, presumably from a massive rockfall, at the mouth of the cave, 5' high and 6' wide, which has been identified as a potential altar. In 1831 the cave floor was examined and a large quantity of human and animal bones, including the skeletons of two children were found. Some of the bones had been cremated and there was much charcoal present. The bone and charcoal layer was one to two feet thick and within it were fragments of pottery, later identified as Iron Age, there was also a handle of a bone knife. The top of the altar bore traces of charcoal and ashes were observed on it's side. Taken together, George Sligo who examined the cave in 1831 proposed that the finds suggest that "The cave, with it's altar may be a example, unique in the British Isles, of a primitive cult of the early Iron Age which included in its ceremonial the sacrifice of human victims" [G. Sligo, 1857 quoted in N. Lanyard, 1934]

Alternative Names: Auldhame Sea Cave, Seacliff Cave

Notes: Access: by land from Seacliff beach

Length etc from Canmore/RCAHMS.

Hydrographic Feeds: None

Hydrographic Resurgences: None