EHG4558 - Walkover survey and cultural heritage impact assessment - proposed wind farm, Buckies Hill, Halkirk

An archaeological walkover survey and cultural heritage impact assessment was carried out on the 11th of February 2014 on behalf of Green Cat Renewables in advance of the installation of five 0.9mW wind turbines on Buckies Hill, southwest of Buckies Farm, Halkirk, Caithness. The work was undertaken to assess the nature and extent of any archaeological and historical sites likely to be directly and indirectly affected by the proposal for new wind turbines and an access road. This study will inform recommendations for the protection and management of archaeological and heritage sites within the development area and within the surrounding landscape. Five new archaeological sites comprising three field dykes, a track and one possible structure were recorded during the walkover survey. Two slab-built dykes are likely to be directly impacted by the development. In the surrounding landscape, there are numerous scheduled monuments, five of which were visited during the landscape survey. The cultural heritage assessment has included a review of the Post Medieval and Prehistoric sites within 2km of the proposed development area in addition to a review of all scheduled monuments within a 10km radius of the development. The study was conducted in order to assess the indirect impacts on the cultural heritage in the landscape. It has concluded that while the five new turbines would contribute to the cumulative impact of increasing number of wind farms on the appearance of this open and highly visible archaeological landscape, the intervisibility between clusters of monuments would be minorly impacted. <1>