Scheduled Monuments›Scotland›Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement
Slate quarries and settlement

Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement

Scotland
HES SM13216
Site type
Slate quarries and settlement
Nation
Scotland
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland

Overview

History & significance

Belnahua is a slate quarrying and settlement site located on the island of Belnahua in Argyllshire, Scotland. The quarries date primarily to the nineteenth century, when intensive slate extraction became a significant economic activity in the region. The site comprises both the physical remains of the quarrying operations, including worked slate faces and spoil heaps, and the associated settlement structures that housed the workforce engaged in this industrial enterprise. Belnahua represents an important example of the slate industry that developed across the Scottish Highlands and islands during the industrial period.

Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM13216. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement?

Belnahua is a slate quarrying and settlement site located on the island of Belnahua in Argyllshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM13216.

Who is responsible for protecting Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement?

Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM13216.

What other scheduled monuments are near Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ballycastle,dun,Luing (3.9 km), Dun Ablaich,earthwork,Luing (3.9 km), Leccamore,dun 500m SW of (4.2 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Stat Accounts
The parish Statistical Accounts of the 1790s and 1830s, describing life, work and population here.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement

Belnahua, slate quarries and settlement stands on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite, semipelite and pelite.