EHG5905 - DBA and walkover survey - woodland planting scheme, Coille an t-Seana Mhorair, Ben Damph Estate

An archaeological desk-based assessment and walkover survey were carried out by West Coast Archaeological Services in 2022 in advance of a woodland creation scheme at Coille an t-Seana Mhorair, Ben Damph Estate, on the south shore of Loch Torridon in Wester Ross. The survey area included wild, upland moorland terrain located to the south of the A896 Torridon to Shieldaig road, on the lower slopes of Creag an Phithich, Sithean Ruairidh, Cnoc nan Each, Coire Buidhe and Beinn Bheag, and to the southwest of Annat. The walkover survey recorded 21 archaeological sites comprising a total of 25 individual structures. These included shielings, pens, boulder shelters, stone dykes, old roads and tracks, clapper bridges, stone cairns, field clearance and a possible illicit still site. Some of the structures would have been used in association with summer pastures and the management of cattle and sheep as a part of transhumance activities in the wider landscape, and for the possible droving of livestock between different communities and to seasonal markets. <1>