Description

In September 2006 an archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Channel 4’s ‘Time Team’ at the site of Speke Keeill, Mount Murray Hotel, near Douglas, Isle of Man, to investigate a small early Christian chapel and associated cist cemetery. The site was first recorded on an early 19th century estate map.
Over 174 keeill sites and several cist cemeteries are known on the Isle of Man and this project aimed to ascertain whether the chapel and the cemetery were contemporaneous or whether the keeill belonged to a later phase of activity as has been identified on other sites. The majority of the identified keeills on Man date to the period following the Norse arrival and very few are known to have a pre-Norse Christian date. The cist cemeteries generally belong to the pre-Norse period and have had keeills and later Norse burials inserted at a later date.
The results of the evaluation showed that like many sites on Man the cist cemetery belonged to the pre-Norse period, which was confirmed by radiocarbon dating to belong to the 6th to 7th century AD, the samples taken from three burials. The keeill was shown to be later than the cemetery as it was built upon an earlier grave which was subsequently disturbed. It was constructed in a typical Scandinavian style of turf and stone and was likely to date later than the 9th century AD.