The Holy Cave at

Hunterston Hunterston, by the Firth of Clyde, is a coastal area in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the seat and estate of the Hunter family. As an area of flat land adjacent to deep natural water, it has been the site of considerable actual and proposed industri ...

in the Parish of

West Kilbride West Kilbride () is a village and historic parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the west coast by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the Firth of Clyde to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran. West Kilbride and adjoining districts of Seamill and P ...

is associated with

Saint Mungo Kentigern (; ), known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Name In Wales and England, this saint is known by his birth and baptis ...

, also known as St Kentigern. It is often referred to as the Hawking Craig Cave; however two caves exist in the Hawking Craig Wood and 'Three Sisters' area of the cliffs, the other being Smith's Cave, better described as a rock shelter lying a short distance to the south. The main cave has been excavated, and the finds indicate three periods of occupation over many centuries.

Cave and access

The cave stands about 300 yards from the northern end of the red sandstone cliffs and was formed by wave action working at a weak point, a fissure, at the base of red sandstone cliffs that run from the Brigurd Point to Portencross; however it now stands about above the level of the old raised beach that runs down to the sea. The cave is not very large ( high, wide and about long.) It is currently best accessed by entering the Hawking Craig Wood near the 'Three Sisters' cliffs and carefully walking along the base of the escarpment.

The Wishing or Holy Well

A spring known as the 'Wishing Well' was located near the rock shelter or cave. One reference states that this deep well is actually located within the cave or at the entrance. The name 'Wishing Well' has been interpreted as deriving from

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and meaning the "''Wise man or Instructor's Well''". The most popular time to visit the well was on the first Sunday in May when water was collected for its supposed curative properties, and it is further recorded that on occasions the local minister was persuaded to visit the well to baptise children using its holy water. The well's name also implies the common practice of making wishes and offerings of coins and other items.

History and excavation

When it was first excavated in 1879, the cave was measured at 27 ft long and 6 ft high and wide for 15 ft to the rear. The excavation went down to a depth of 6 ft before hitting bedrock and three levels were discernible, each made up of layers of well-trodden ashes and seashells, the first at 18 in, a second at 30in, and the basal layer at 39ins deep. Many bones were found, including deer, cat, pig, horse, sheep, goat, ox, and rabbit bones. The horse bones were found between the upper and second level with dog bones between the middle and basal levels. A significant find was a bone object with a rectangular hole at one end found on the second level and a flint object was found just above the basal level. An object made of slate was found. Some pottery fragments were found including a coarse, unglazed, reddish appearance and a thinner example with a green-brown glaze similar to Scottish Medieval pottery. The

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...

holds the bone implements and some pottery fragments (Accession Numbers. HM 3-4). A shelter would most likely have once existed at the cave entrance although no recognisable signs survive of concavities etc used to support such an arrangement. Some apparent man-made workings on the rock face exist close by; however, there is an absence of religious symbols or graffiti of any kind. However, the soft red sandstone is easily eroded by rain and wind action, and any such markings may have been lost even if they ever existed. ;The Ardeer Cave A cave exists near the site of the old Ardeer House in

Stevenston Stevenston (, ) is a town and parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Along with Ardrossan and Saltcoats it is one of the "Three Towns#Scotland, Three Towns", all of similar size, on the Firth of Clyde coast; the easternmost parts of Stevenston are ...

. Until covered over the remains of a dressed stone frame formed an iron grille over a hole in the cave roof suggesting its use as a grotto in the 19th century. The visible remains suggested a

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ', meaning "subterrain", is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul d ...

, but the near absence of records of these in south-west Scotland make this unlikely. The passage is lined with corbelled drystone walling, roofed with capstones, and leads into a natural cave section which may have been formed by wave action as it shows a water-scour likely to have been created by wave action. Some areas of undisturbed stratified deposits have been found, together with evidence of occupation, such as a hearth, bones, and a fragment of glass. ;St Molaise's Cave A similar cave or rock shelter survives on Holy Island (off the east coast of Arran) where

Saint Molaise In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...

, an early Irish saint and abbot of

Old Leighlin Old Leighlin (), also Oldleighlin, is a village, civil parish and townland in County Carlow, Ireland. The village is west of Leighlinbridge. The site was at one time one of the foremost monastic houses in Leinster, with 1,500 monks in residen ...

in Co. Carlow, who is supposed to have lived in the 6th and 7th centuries. Parallels can also be drawn with

Saint Ninian's Cave St Ninian's Cave is a cave in Physgill Glen, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It features in the climax of the 1973 horror film '' The Wicker Man''. It is a place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage by way of its association with the Scottish ...

Glasserton Glasserton is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is on the Machars peninsula, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish is about in length, varying in breadth from , and contains . The Parish It is tho ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

Micro-history

The name 'Hawking Craig' refers to the medieval practice of collecting young sparrowhawks and goshawks for the sport of

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

. The famous

Hunterston Brooch The Hunterston Brooch is a highly important Celtic brooch of "pseudo-penannular" type found near Hunterston, North Ayrshire, Scotland, in either, according to one account, 1826 by two men from West Kilbride, who were digging drains at the foot o ...

was found by workmen at the Hawking Craig in 1826. Prior to the

Battle of Largs The Battle of Largs (2 October 1263) was a battle between the kingdoms of Kingdom of Norway (872–1397), Norway and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde near Largs, Scotland. The conflict formed part of the Scottish–Norwegian ...

in 1263 a skirmish is said to have taken place on the raised beach area in front of the cave and a cairn or cairns once stood here that were said to be the graves of Vikings killed during the engagement. Wilson records in the early 19th century seeing several graves made of six stones that only contained ashes and a large cairn at the base of the cliff where the skirmish took place in which coins were found. These were removed when the author was a boy. Local legend has it that three sisters, Meg, Jean and Lizzie, were witches and whipped up the storm that caused such havoc amongst King Haco's fleet. The 'Three Sisters' are named for them.

References

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External links