Scottish landowner loses bid to keep ancient 7th-century graveyard for family burials

A landowner has lost his bid to use part of an ancient graveyard linked to early Christianity in Scotland for private family burials.

Cladh a’Bhile, by Loch Caolisport in Argyll and Bute, holds a large collection of 29 carved stones from the 7th and 8th century and sits on a hillside surrounded by mature trees.

The Cladh a’ Bhile burial ground, which dates to the 7th Centure, sits on the west side of Loch Caolisport in Argyll. PIC: Anne Burgess/geograph.org | Anne Burgess/geograph.org

Heritage chiefs moved to protect the burial ground with scheduled monument status given its national importance as a place of early Christian ritual and practice.

It has been used as a private burial ground by the Rogers family, of nearby Ellary, for five generations with several descendants buried there.

As a result, a corner of the site was excluded from the designation given the 19th and 20th Century burials and memorials and the associated disturbance to the ground.

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Duncan Henry Rogers, of Ellary House, in his appeal, asked for a larger area to be excluded from the designation to allow for future family burials.

Planning reporter Christopher Warren has rejected the appeal .

Mr Warren, in his decision notice, said: “Ultimately, I must balance this ongoing private interest in the use of the site with the justification for designation and the importance of preserving the site.

“In doing so, whilst I am sympathetic to the appellant’s position, I do not consider this to be sufficient to justify extending the area excluded from the site’s designation.

“Given the site’s historic cultural importance, the requirement for scheduled monument consent would provide an appropriate safeguard against ongoing burial activity that might compromise this.”

Historic Environment Scotland, in papers linked to the appeal, said the early ecclesiastical site had potential to hold buried features and deposits, including the remains of an early church or monastic buildings, as well as further carved stones and burials.

Mr Rogers, in his appeal, said the area excluded from the designation was not large enough to permit future family burials and would prevent use as a family burial site.

The family wish to continue with its “careful maintenance” of the burial ground with concerns also raised that the designation would attract a greater number of visitors.

Mr Warren said: “There is the possibility that the appellant’s willingness or desire to provide continued maintenance of the site might wane.

“Whilst that might be the case, the burial ground has no doubt sustained variable levels of management and maintenance over the course of the 13 centuries or so that it has existed, so it is doubtful that reduced maintenance would compromise its integrity.

“I consider a greater threat to its condition would potentially arise from ongoing uncontrolled burials within the enclosure, particularly due to the inevitable excavations associated with this.

“The appellant has noted that the scheduling of the burial ground may increase visitor numbers. This appeal only challenges the extent of the scheduled area, rather than the designation as a whole.

“Therefore the outcome of this appeal would not alter the fact that this site appears in the publicly available schedule of monuments. In any event I would note that there is no evidence to suggest that a site’s identification in the schedule increasesvisitor numbers.

“Given this site’s relatively isolated location and limited accessibility, I consider it very unlikely that any meaningful increase in visits would arise.”

Mr Rogers was contacted for comment.

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