EHG4775 - DBA and walkover survey - South Annat Woodland Scheme, Lochaber

A desk-based assessment and walkover survey were carried out by C Dagg in 2013 in advance of a proposed new woodland planting scheme on land at South Annat. Of the 23 individual sites noted during this rapid survey, fifteen dated to the period up to the introduction of sheep farming. These included three platforms (3, 13, 15) which may be the sites of early buildings, together with the footings of two buildings (9, 10) which may represent a more scattered pattern of settlement before a contraction to a nucleated settlement, or clachan. Other features dating to this period were sections of bank, enclosures and field improvement which suggest that small areas of cultivation and pasture were scattered across the whole area, and typical shieling structures (17, 18) where cattle would have been kept at summer grazing. All of these features would have fallen out of use with the introduction of sheep farming. <1>