EHG4432 - Watching brief and trial trench - Kilmuir Water Treatment Works, Trotternish, Skye

A watching brief, trial trenching and topographic surveys were carried out by West Coast Archaeological Services in 2012 in advance of ground works for the erection of a new water treatment plant and associated infrastructure at a location east of Kilmuir, Trotternish, in the Isle of Skye. The proposed developments lay within close proximity to a well-preserved prehistoric hut circle that had been previously recorded in the area and the remains of a possible prehistoric cairn. Topographic surveys of the two monuments were carried out in advance of site works. Due to the close proximity of the cutting of the water main pipe trench in relation to the potential prehistoric kerbed cairn, it was also decided that a detailed survey should be made of the surviving archaeological remains and that a trial trench would be excavated where the new water main pipe trench would be cut immediately to the W of the monument. A 2m x 1m trench was excavated by hand down to the natural sub-soil where the new water main trench was to be cut between the monument and the post and wire fence. The field evaluation at the cairn site and the watching brief near the hut circle failed to recover any significant additional evidence to support the initial interpretation and potential function of the two archaeological features. <1>