Monument status for rare medieval harbour on Skye Published duration 24 November 2017

image copyright Dr Colin and Dr Paula Martin image caption The canal is a stone-lined channel linking a loch to the sea

A rare medieval harbour and canal on the Isle of Skye have been designated scheduled monuments.

The Historic Environment Scotland (HES) status should give the site at Loch na h-Airde on the Rubha an Dunain peninsula greater protection.

Archaeologists believe the Vikings may have originally used the loch as an anchorage.

A "complex" of docks, boat noosts and quays have been indentified. The canal links the small loch to the sea.

A nearby cave has also been given scheduled monument status.

Creag a' Chapaill Cave shows evidence of having been used by people from at least the 3rd millennium BC until the early medieval period.

image copyright Crown Copyright/Historic Environment Scotland image caption An aerial image of the harbour and canal on Skye

The noosts at Loch na h-Airde were shelters made of turf and stone while the channel to the sea was lined with stone, according to archaeologists.

In the site's scheduled monument designation, HES described the harbour complex and canal as rare.

It said: "The scale of the docks, noosts and the presence of the canal and loch quays demonstrates that the site was a significant anchorage for the western seaboard.

"Given its sheltered and important strategic location, it is possible that the loch was used to shelter and overwinter boats, or that the site was a staging location.