EHG6144 - Walkover survey - proposed woodland creation, West Garty

A targeted walkover survey was undertaken by Highland Archaeology Services in 2023 ahead of a woodland creation development at West Garty, Helmsdale. The proposed forestry development would surround Culgower hill as well as the east area of Creag Riasgain. The proposed forest is 3.5 miles south west of Helmsdale and was proposed to cover approximately 4.5km². of land. A desk based assessment had been undertaken in which an area of roughly 1km had been searched around the proposed development site for archaeological and historical remains. This aimed to establish the archaeological and historical potential within the studied area. The targeted walkover survey aimed to investigate and record the presence of any visible upstanding archaeological remains within the proposed development area. Due to some misunderstanding about a feature's location the actual location of some structures (recorded as DBA 20) were looked for in the wrong place and thus not noted on the ground. The actual location was noted from a previous report and noted on the LiDAR. The conditions were cold with occasional showers, visibility was fairly good. Five archaeological features were recorded. <1>