Summary

Keg filled with butter, from Plockton, Loch Carron, Ross and Cromarty

Accession Number

X.SHC 5

Other references

Original description

Keg, 18" high, 11" diam., filled with butter, from Plockton, Loch Carron, Ross-shire.Trevor Cowie notes, 12 April 2012: see RCAHMS NG83SW 14. Details after Mowat 1996: in 1888 peat-digging at a depth of 4' (1.2m) in the An Cnatharan moss revealed a 'barrel or keg hollowed out of a birch-tree trunk'; a 'cover and bottom' were 'let in'. the keg contained a 'mass' of bog butter, in which cattle hairs have been identified. It measures 1'6" (0.46m) in height by 11" (0.28m) in diameter, weighs 371 lb (16.8 kg), and has a capacity of about 2 litres. The peat-moss where the discovery was made cannot be located, but the village of Plockton is situated at sea level on the S shore of Loch Carron. References: Earwood, C Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times, Exeter 1993, 111, 285; Macadam, W I 'Notes on the analysis of additional samples of bog butter found in different parts of Scotland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 23 (), 434; Mowat, R J C The logboats of Scotland, with notes on related artefact types, Oxford 1996, 103, 113, 145, no. A60 tabs. 1 and 11; NMAS Catalogue of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh 1892, 327; Ritchie, J 'A keg of "bog-butter" from Skye and its contents', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 75 (), 13, 16. RCAHMS note that two 'similar' kegs were found within ten yards of each other; the form of the surviving keg (ie NMS SHC 5) - is similar to that from Morvern (NM75SE 1 and/or NM75SW 12). [Note: there are some record images taken by TGC in Archaeology Image Store]

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1887

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Dr C.G. Mackay

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image

None