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MHG4368 - Upperton

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Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

(Centred NH 395 313) Settlement and Field System (NR) (11 huts shown)
OS 25 " map, (1967)

A settlement of 13 stone-walled huts (A - N) and a contemporary field system. The interior of each hut is circular. The entrances, where visible, are in the SE. Huts C - L, and part of the field system, are mutilated by forestry ploughing.
Hut 'A' (unpublished) is c. 10.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c.3.0m in the NW, widening gradually to c. 3.7m at the simple entrance, c. 1.3m wide. One or two outer facing stones protrude in the NE arc. Some 4.0m outside the hut circle around the E arc is a linear clearance heap and around the N arc is a ditch, uncertainly contemporary for drainage, or natural.
'B' is c. 6.3m in diameter within a wall spread to c.2.5m in the NW widening gradually to c. 4.5m at the entrance. The SW side of the entrance extends outwards towards the SE for a distance of about 3.0m, possibly to form a windbreak.
'C', set into a NW-facing slope, is c. 13.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 3.0m all round. The entrance is ill-defined. A clearance heap overlies the wall in the S.
'D' is c. 8.0m in diameter within a wall spread to 3.0m widening to c. 3.5m where it is built up in the NW. The position of the entrance is not apparent. A clearance heap lies against the S arc.
'E', contiguous with 'D', is c. 8.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 4.0m widening to c. 7.5m at the mutilated clubbed entrance. There is no trace of an inter- connectng passage between the huts.
'F', approximately 9.0m in internal diameter, has been ploughed through, and no details are apparent.
'G' is c. 8.0m in diameter, within a wall spread to c. 3.0m widening to c. 4.5m at the entrance which is mutilated by ploughing.
'H' is c. 10.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c.5.5m expanding to c. 8.0m at the clubbed entrance.
'J' is c. 12.5m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 4.0m all round. A clearance heap lies against the wall to the SW of the mutilated entrance.
'K', contiguous with 'J', is c. 5.5m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 3.0m all round. The position of the entrance cannot be seen, and there is no trace of an interconnecting passage between the huts.
'L', set into a W-facing slope, is c. 6.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. The entrance is denuded.
'M' is c. 8.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 5.5m widening to c. 7.5m at the clubbed entrance.
'N' (unpublished) is c. 10.0m in diameter within a denuded wall spread to c. 3.5m widening to c. 5.0m in the S. The position of the entrance cannot be ascertained. Around the N arc are several outer facing stones.
The field system, comprising field walls, lynchets, and stone clearance heaps, is best preserved in the vicinity of huts 'A' and 'M', where two fields measure c. 50.0m by 30.0m and 40.0m by 16.0m respectively.
Huts 'B' - 'M' surveyed at 1:2500. (Visited by OS (N K B) 11 December 1964) (Visible on RAF air photograph RAF/541/A/395:3163-4)
Extent of field system delineated on 6" sheet.
Survey Diagram.
Visited by OS (N K B) 5 October 1970

Part of a settlement of 13 stone-walled huts (A - N) and a contemporary field system. The interior of each hut is circular. The entrances, where visible, are in the SE. Huts C - L, and part of the field system, are mutilated by forestry ploughing.
'C', set into a NW-facing slope, is c. 13.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 3.0m all round. The entrance is ill-defined. A clearance heap overlies the wall in the S.
'D' is c. 8.0m in diameter within a wall spread to 3.0m widening to c. 3.5m where it is built up in the NW. The position of the entrance is not apparent. A clearance heap lies against the S arc.
'E', contiguous with 'D', is c. 8.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 4.0m widening to c. 7.5m at the mutilated clubbed entrance. There is no trace of an inter- connectng passage between the huts.
'F', approximately 9.0m in internal diameter, has been ploughed through, and no details are apparent.
'G' is c. 8.0m in diameter, within a wall spread to c. 3.0m widening to c. 4.5m at the entrance which is mutilated by ploughing.
'H' is c. 10.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c.5.5m expanding to c. 8.0m at the clubbed entrance.
'J' is c. 12.5m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 4.0m all round. A clearance heap lies against the wall to the SW of the mutilated entrance.
'K', contiguous with 'J', is c. 5.5m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 3.0m all round. The position of the entrance cannot be seen, and there is no trace of an interconnecting passage between the huts.
'L', set into a W-facing slope, is c. 6.0m in diameter within a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. The entrance is denuded.
Visited by OS (NKB) 5 October 1970.

There are nine hut-circles scattered through a conifer plantation about 600m NE of Upperton Farm. All the hut-circles were recorded by the OS (C to L), and most of them lie in clearings and are free of trees. The hut-circles range in size from 6m to 13.7m in diameter within stony banks from 2m to 4.5m in thickness and 0.3m to 0.7m in height. All but three have entrances on the SE and these three are entered from the SW (URQ97 414, 419, 421). Two are built adjacent to one another, the western measuring 12.7m in internal diameter and the eastern 6m (URQ97 418 and 419). The smaller one also has a plough-furrow cut through it from NE to SW.
(URQ97 414-423)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 4 September 1997

In the unimproved fringes of a field there are the remains of two hut-circles, two burial cairns (see NH33SE 9), a building, some small cairns and some field-banks. The two hut-circles, which have previously been described by the OS as A and B, lie on the W (URQ97 407) and E (URQ97 406) edges of the field respectively. The former, which has rushes growing within its interior, measures 11m in diameter within a stone-faced wall 2.5m in thickness and 0.5m in height, and there is an entrance on the SSW. The latter is slightly oval on plan and measures 6.8m from NNW to SSE by 6m transversely within a stone-faced wall 2.8m in thickness and 0.4m in height, which expands to 3.9m in thickness to either side of the entrance on the SSE. The entrance opens onto a terrace about 2m wide, and a later track cuts the bank of the hut-circle on the NW. The building lies near the E hut-circle, and is partly robbed, measuring 21.2m from ENE to WSW by 5.8m transversely over faced-rubble walls 1m in thickness and 0.25m in height. A mound of rubble has been dumped on the W end (URQ97467, NH 3913 3133). The small cairns are scattered in a strip up to about 65m wide around the SE, SW and NW sides of the field, and there are several stony banks describing sinuous courses in amongst them.
(URQ97 406-7, 467)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 18 August and 20 October 1997

There are two hut-circles, some small cairns, and four boundary dykes in improved grassland about 450m ENE of Upperton Farm. The hut-circles and small cairns have been recorded as part of NH33SE 1 by the OS and labelled M and N respectively, but are separated here because of the dislocation of the site by afforestation. The former measures 9.5m in diameter within a wall reduced to a stony bank, but with some external facings visible on the W. The bank measures a maximum of 3m in thickness and 0.6m in height on either side of the entrance on the SE (URQ97 413). The latter hut-circle is oval on plan and measures 12.1m from NW to SE by 11.3m transversely within a stony bank 2.6m in thickness and 0.4m in height. Its entrance is on the SE, but it has been damaged by the placing of a feeder bin on the S terminal of the wall (URQ97 412). The small cairns extend over an area measuring 200m from E to W by 100m transversely. Four different boundary dykes describe a curvilinear course across the site, of which two are cut by the 19th century dyke NH43SW 73) that runs across the pasture from SSW to NNE. These two appear to represent different phases of a head-dyke that also encompasses the township at Cnoc nan Ceard to the E (NH43SW 14). A third describes a sinuous course just N of the two hut-circles, and a fourth sinuous dyke runs in and out of the conifer plantation on the N. (URQ97 412-413)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 4 September 1997

Nine hut-circles, in two small groups corresponding to the hut-circles described by the RCAHMS (1997), were noted during a pre-afforestation survey by Wordsworth Archaeological Services.
The E group of five hut-circles lie within an extensive area of field clearance cairns (NMRS MS 2007 no.16) covering c.3.5 hectares and are bounded on the W by a dyke following an irregular course between NH 3971 3144 and NH 3985 3158. The W group of hut-circles are associated with an extensive area of small cairns stretching either side of a forestry track.
Information from J Wordsworth 6 December 1999
NMRS MS 2007 nos.11-17, 22-4

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 3951 3136 (1024m by 453m) (10 map features)
Map sheet	NH33SE
Civil Parish	KILTARLITY AND CONVINTH
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

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