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MHG10686 - Hut circles, Cnoc an Liath-Bhaid

Summary

4 hut circles are recorded in this area by the RCAHMS, OS and on modern mapping.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

(NC 729 101) (Name) Settlement and Field System (NR) (Three features, A-C, shown at NC 729 100) (E: NC 7284 1019) Undescribed feature.
OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)

Some 300 yards SE of stone circle on Cnoc an Liath-bhaid (NR71SW 1) is a group of mounds, some of which are rather larger than usual. Near the south end of the group is a large hut circle (B) with three smaller circles abutting on it, and a smaller circular enclosure in the interior. Some 40 yards east of the stone circle is an old enclosure (E). Traces of an old wall can be seen on the lower side of this enclosure.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909. <1>

Three hut circles (A-C) and an enclosure (E). The numerous mounds in the vicinity appear to be field clearance heaps.
Visited by OS (W D J) 16 April 1964.

Centred on NC 728 101, along shelving ground in a south-west facing hillside, is a settlement of four hut circles (A-D) accompanied by a field system. The huts are heather-covered and the walls collapsed; entrances no longer survive in huts B and C.
'A' measures 5m diameter within a wall 0.3m high and spread from 1.5m to 2.5m in the sides of an entrance in the SE.
'B' is intruded on by a secondary hut circle destroying much of the E wall arc. In the former the remaining wall-spread, at most pronounced 2m broad and up to 0.3 high, indicates an internal size of approximately 9m diameter. The secondary hut, set into the slope, measures some 6.5m N-S, by 5m inside an ill-defined wall-spread with no obvious entrance; in the interior against the N arc is a pile of bare stones. Lying N-S in the E half of the first hut is a curving band of heather-covered rubble, 1m wide and 0.1m high, of uncertain significance. The RCAHMS mentions three smaller circles abutting on hut B but these were not specifically identified but probably refer to the feature noted.
'C', set in the slope, measures 13.5m N-S by 11.5m over a scant wall-spread.
Hut 'D' is 10.0m N-S by 9.0m E-W within a wall spread from 2.5m to 3.0m and up to 0.4m high. The entrance is in the S.
The "old enclosure" noted by RCAHMS (E) appears to be a fortuitous arrangement, formed by a ruinous field wall around the SW arc, which continues along the hillside to the NW and SE, and a curving back scarp around the NE arc; both field wall and back scarp are probably a result of land-use associated with the hut circles. There are a number of stone clearance heaps from 10.0 to 20.0m apart, occasional lynchets and meandering field walls, all comprising a field system associated with the hut circles, but no measureable plots are discernible.
Revised at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (J M) 1 April 1981.

A cluster of three hut circles is shown on modern Ordnance Survey mapping, with an isolated hut circle c.300m to the NW. The mapped extent represents the sites as marked on this mapping. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 7288 1015 (270m by 261m) Surveyed
Map sheet	NC71SW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ROGART

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