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MHG10478 - Township - Braeval

Summary

A settlement established c.1820 consisting of a row of four or five small crofts with associated buildings.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

NC90NW 32 920 083.

Centred at NC 9207 0830: Four rectangular buildings in varying ruinous states, each with an enclosure abutting it to the N. Running W-E in front of the houses is a track, and immediately to the S is a large enclosure.
(The buildings are shown roofed on OS 6-inch map, Sutherland, 1st ed. (1879), sheet xcviii.)
J Harden 1991. <1>

This site was visited during a walkover survey in 1999. The settlement comprises a row of four or five small crofts marked by short parallel strips of land with associated buildings. There are three principal long rectangular stone structures and a number of smaller structures. Immediately adjacent to the mapped structures the survey noted a number of small cairns up to 3m in diameter and a small rectangular structure measuring 7m by 4m. There is a single house with enclosures 150m to the east. Maps in the Sutherland Estate Papers show that Braeval was constructed in about 1820, during the improvement of Kintradwell Farm, to replace houses demolished in the newly enclosed fields to the south. It was still occupied at the time of the Ordnance Survey 1st edition survey of 1872. <2>

A desk-based assessment and walkover survey were carried out by CFA Archaeology in 2019 in advance of a proposed wind farm development at Kintradwell, Sutherland. A number of structures are depicted to the north of Kintradwell (Clyntradwell) on Roy’s military map (1747-55) and may relate to earlier settlement. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Sutherland 1879, sheet XCVIII) depicts four main buildings, with three clustered to the west and a single outlier to the east. This building has three enclosures associated with it; the one to the south is divided in two compartments. The buildings to the west each have small square or rectangular gardens to the north the eastern most of which is divided into two, while a larger enclosure to the south, separated from the buildings by a track, is divided into four plots, with a further two smaller enclosures to the west. There are four small square roofed structures and an unroofed structure, depicted at the northern edge of these enclosures. The settlement is shown as abandoned on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map (Sutherland, 1909, Sheet XCVIII).

All four of the buildings and associated enclosures are shown on the current Ordnance Survey map (2019) while the remains can also be seen on current aerial photographs (Google Earth, 2019). Field survey confirmed the remains were as described. The walls of the buildings were ruinous, surviving to a height of 0.5m to 0.75m, but some survived up to a height of 1m. <3>

Sources/Archives (9)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 92084 08322 (389m by 229m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC90NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	LOTH

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Investigations/Events (3)

External Links (1)