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Neave Causeway

Traigh na h-Uamhag, Ceannabeinne, Durness, Sutherland.

Natural arch through promontory beneath monastic settlement.

A 6 m long boulder-floored natural arch that reaches a maximum width of 3.8m and has formed along a fracture through Lewisian Gneiss.

Over a natural arch is a causeway defended by two lines of boulders. On the promontory are two buildings - rectangular. The southwest edge of the promontory may have been delimited by a wall. Information from Dr C S Sandeman, Durness, 14 March 1967.

The promontory is approached by a natural causeway about 15ft wide over a natural arch. At the west end six boulders have been set upright in the earth. Sixteen feet to the east of the boulders the causeway is 9ft wide. On the promontory is a sub-rectangular structure, with a rectangular structure about 33ft to the east. Information contained in letter and field notes from K Reid to OS 25 September 1978.

Alternative Names: An Cabhsair Naomh, Traigh na h-Uamhag Natural Arch

Notes: A cliff-girt promontory accessible from the landward side by a natural causeway over a natural arch. A line of earthfast angular boulders block the approach, and on the causeway itself an embedded, transverse slab may indicate a further blocking wall. On the promontory are footings of a rectangular structure measuring an estimated 8.5m by 5.0m within a wall 1.2m thick; a short distance to the east among rock outcrops are traces of a small, possibly circular structure. Along the SW side of the promontory and round the northwest, stone showing in an eroded scarp indicates a skirting wall. It is unlikely that this is a fort in view of vulnerability from the northeast where the cliffs give way to shelving rock. This could well be a monastic settlement and it may not be coincidental that a monastic site (NC46NW 5) is clearly viewed to the west. Surveyed at 1:10,000. Visited by OS (J M) 23 April 1980.

The word 'Neave' is derived from Gaelic term 'An Cabhsair Naomh' [the holy causeway]',

c.f. Neave Island (Eilean na Naoimh, Isle of the Saint) near Tongue.