EHG5041 - Watching Brief - Glen Loth Hydro Scheme, Kintradwell, Sutherland

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by AOC Archaeology Group in 2016 during the construction of the Glen Loth Hydro Scheme on the Kintradwell Estate, near Brora, Sutherland. Four areas of groundworks for the Glen Loth hydro scheme were investigated. One of the areas had been developed for a new access track prior to notification of the archaeological contractor. This area had been outwith the area surveyed in 2014 and resulted in the truncation of several elements of upstanding archaeological sites in the landscape. A rapid survey was conducted to ascertain the location of any surviving sites. Ten new sites, including three possible structures and boundary dykes, were identified, but not fully surveyed. The watching brief also identified two further upstanding sites, a boulder dyke and a clearance cairn. Whilst the majority of the remains are probably of medieval or later date, the possibility that they relate to earlier prehistoric settlement patterns cannot be discounted. A group of pits was identified during the watching brief at the south end of the glen on the edge of a steep terrace next to a ruinous kiln-barn above the Loth Burn near Lothbeg. Ranging in length from 1.0 to 1.6m and in depth from 0.1m to 0.5m, they contained no artefactual or structural evidence and there was no form noted in the arrangement of the features, although they were certainly grouped together and were of similar construction. The function and date are inconclusive. Artefactual evidence was limited to a single sherd of white glazed postmedieval pottery and two sherds of possible shale or coal recovered from the Topsoil within Area 3. <1>