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MHG3920 - Carn Na Croiche

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NH62NW 5 607 257.

Centred at NH 603 258 around the generally W-facing slopes of a hill shoulder, is a settlement of five, circular, stone-walled huts (A-E) each built up on the slope, with field system.
Hut 'A' measures c 14.0m in diameter between the centres of an ill-defined wall of indeterminate width. the entrance in the SSE is denuded.
'B' is c. 9.5m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. Occasional outer facing stones can be seen. In the E arc is a "simple" entrance, c. 1.2m wide. A gap in the SW is due to mutilation.
'C' is c 11.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. The entrance in the E is marked by a mutilated gap c. 1.5m wide. Modern cultivation has encroached on the hut and a fence overlies its SE arc.
Hut 'D' measures c. 11.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 5.0m on the lower W side, and to c. 3.0m elsewhere. The entrance in the NNE is mutilated.
'E' is c. 12.5m in diameter between the centres of a denuded wall spread to c. 3.0m. The entrance is not evident.
The field system is comprised mainly of stone clearance heaps and lynchets forming plots varying between c. 35.0m by c. 25.0m, and c.20.0m by c. 10.0m. Several extensive ruinous field walls occur in the area.
Visited by OS (N K B) 25 March 1970.

Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (A A) 30 November 1971.

Seven hut-circles, an oval enclosure, a field-system and scatters of small cairns cover some 40ha of a W-facing hillside to the SSE of Ruthven farmhouse. The site is roughly bisected by a modern boundary (also the parish boundary) which runs ENE-WSW down the hill: to the N of this there is heather moorland, to the S the grazing was improved about thirty years ago (ex inf. farmer, Ruthven). This land improvement has not, however, destroyed the archaeology: five of the hut-circles are to the S of the boundary, and extensive stretches of bank and numerous small cairns are to be found both here and in the heather to the N. The field-system appears to have extended further to the SE when recorded by the OS in 1971, but some 20ha has since been lost to forestry.
With one exception - USN93 71 (OS Hut 'C') which stands on a natural terrace - all the huts have been levelled into the hillside, or terrace on their downslope side. They range from 8m to 11.5m in diameter within stony banks now spread to as much as 2.2m. All the huts have suffered from stone-robbing or other disturbance, and facing-stones are only visible in one hut, USN93 69 (OS Hut 'B').
An oval enclosure (USN93 77) is located 150m SW of hut USN93 76, at NH 6038 2611. It measures 9m ENE-WSW by 7m transversely within a stony bank spread to 1.5m in thickness.
(USN93 69-71, 73-77)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 2 March 1993.

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 6076 2603 (1139m by 1429m) (7 map features)
Map sheet	NH62NW
Civil Parish	DAVIOT AND DUNLICHITY
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

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