NR26NW 4.00 2181 6717 See also NR26NW 22. NR26NW 4.01 NR c.218 671 Viking burial (Ballinaby 2) NR26NW 4.02 NR c.2181 6717 Viking burial (Ballinaby 1) NR26NW 4.03 NR 214 671 Viking burial (Ballinaby 3) (NR 2181 6717) Human Remains found AD 1877 (NAT) OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900) Two 10th century Viking burials, a man and a woman, found lying side by side at a depth of 15ins by W Campbell of Ballinaby in August 1877, his attention having been drawn to the site by the appearance of rust stains on the sandy surface of the links. The graves were outlined by edge-set stones and the grave-goods consisted of iron tools and weapons for the man, and domestic implements and ornaments, including a pair of tortoise brooches and large ornamented bronze or silver mountings, for the woman. The finds are in the National Museum of Antiquties of Scotland (NMAS, Accession no. IL 125-156). Another Viking grave, in the form of a cist, 7ft long by 2ft 6ins broad by 1ft 9ins deep, was found by Neill MacLellan, a shepherd, 400 yards to the west on the 21st June 1932. It contained weapons which date the burial to 950 to 1000. These are also the NMAS. It was on a natural shelf near the top of a rocky knoll now covered with sand and overgrown with grass. A pair of tortoise brooches, found beneath one of the standing stones (?NR26NW 13 or 14), were presented to the NMAS by Col. Campbell of Ballinaby in May 1788. (Accession no. IL 215, 216). About 1800 Captain Burgess of the sloop of war 'Savage' with a party of his crew, dug up part of the sand-hill near NR26NW 13 "where they found one or two swords, a pike-head and many human bones. The arms they carried away" (NSA 1845). In July 1958 a possible Viking shield boss was found in rocks near the farm of Ballinaby but careful investigation revealed nothing else (Lewin and Celoria 1958) These various reports of burials and finds would appear to suggest a 10th century Viking cemetery roughly centred on the published site at NR 2181 6717. New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; Name Book 1878; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1878; J Anderson 1879; NMAS 1892; A J H Edwards 1934; S Greig 1940; P Lerwin and F Celoria 1958; F Celoria 1959. The published OS siting falls in undulating pastureland and a perambulation of the surrounding area failed to reveal any evidence of burials nor is there local knowledge (information from Mr Don, Ballinaby Farm, Gruinart) of the site. Visited by OS (T R G) 24 May 1978. At least four burials of Viking date have been discovered in sand-dunes near Ballinby, and there are indications that one or possibly two other finds were made there in the later 18th or early 19th century. RCAHMS 1984, visited June 1980.