EHG6357 - DBA & walkover survey - proposed battery energy storage system, Knocknagael

An archaeological desk-based assessment and walkover survey were undertaken by Royal HaskoningDHV in 2023 in relation to the construction and operation of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with associated infrastructure, access and ancillary works (the Proposed Development) on land located to the west of the existing Knocknagael substation, approximately 8 km southwest of Inverness. A site visit was carried out on 23 August 2023 to determine the topography and existing land use, the nature of the existing visible heritage assets (e.g. structures and earthworks) and assess factors which may have affected the survival or condition of any known or potential heritage assets. The visit extended beyond the Site boundary for the purposes of scoping designated heritage assets and their intervisibility with the Proposed Development for the settings assessment. The presence of hut circles and clearance cairns within the Site and the survival of similar and likely associated Prehistoric settlement and agricultural features in the wider landscape indicated there was moderate to high potential for further previously unrecorded heritage assets to be present buried beneath the surface. The survival of these assets showed there has been little change to land use and agricultural regimes in terms of intensive cultivation since their abandonment. It was notable that archaeological investigations to the immediate east at Knocknagael substation did not identify any definitive Prehistoric settlement or agricultural features. It should be noted, however, that within the Site there were surviving above ground archaeological remains, which indicated significant potential for the presence of further below ground Prehistoric and later archaeological remains. Likewise, the presence of visible above ground remains of a post-medieval farmstead suggested there was also moderate to high potential for further previously unrecorded heritage assets to be present buried beneath the surface. The upstanding heritage assets within the Site were surviving illustrative examples of Prehistoric and pre-improvement farming and settlement within the region. Whilst the preservation of the assets was variable, they could still be appreciated and understood within this wider system of agriculture and settlement and as such were assessed as having a regional level of importance. <1>