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MHG11779 - Creag an Amalaidh

Summary

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Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

(Centred NH 753 980) Hut Circles (NR (Three) Cairns (NR)
OS 6" map, (1960)

A hut circle, a circular enclosure with an entrance 5' wide, and a large group of mounds according to the RCAHMS (1911). Six hut circles or enclosures and an associated field system according to OS field investigator.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909; Visited by OS (N K B) 18 February 1969.

A settlement of four stone-walled huts (A - D) and an associated field system is centred at NH 753 980 on the NW slopes of Creag an Amalaidh. Hut 'A', set into a W-facing slope, is defined by a wall of indeterminate width and measures c. 10.5m E-W by c.9.0m between wall centres. A gap in the W indicates the entrance. A lynchet runs NE from its NE arc; 15.0m to the SW is a ruined building of later date.
'B', set into the NW slope, appears as a platform surrounded by the remains of a stone wall spread to c.3.0m in the NW but not so evident elsewhere. It measures c.10.5m NW-SE by c.8.0m between wall centres, with the entrance defined by a gap in the SW between the built-up and excavated parts of the hut.
'C', set into the NW slope, is well preserved with most of the inner wall face and occasional stones of the outer wall face visible. It measures 11.0m in diameter internally, with the wall, 1.8m thick at the rear, increasing to c.2.8m at the "clubbed" entrance in the NW. The entrance is flanked on each side by a boulder, but the one on the NE side is possibly displaced. The hut is placed immediately above a lynchet running NE-SW at the head of a field measuring about 40.0m square, bounded in the NW by the lynchet running from hut 'A', and in the SW by a field wall. This lynchet ends on the SW side of the hut entrance and continues again from the NE side.
'D', set into the W slope, is mutilated, but appears to be circular measuring c.9.0m in diameter between spread wall centres, with a gap
c.3.5m wide in the W arc leading into a sub-circular annexe c.4.5m in diameter. No entrance is evident.
Some 40m to the ENE of 'D' is a sub-circular platform c.13.0m in diameter, bounded by a back scarp in in the E, a build-up in the W, and a clearance heap in the SW. Its irregularity suggests it is a cultivation plot rather than a hut. About 25m to the S of 'A' is a semi-circular bank c.8.0m in diameter, open to the W where it fronts on to a modern wall and ditch. It may be a partly destroyed hut, but insufficient remains to be certain. These two structures are probably the additional two "enclosures or huts" see by the previous OS field investigator.
The field system, composed of clearance heaps, lynchets and field walls, is best defined in the area of huts A, B, and C where two fields measure 40m square and 30m x 20m respectively. It is partly overlaid by cultivation associated with an extensive depopulated settlement noted on Roy's map of 1747 as "Balnachinirnal".
W Roy 1747-55; Visited by OS (A A) 19 November 1969

A settlement of four hut circles and a field system generally as described by the first OS field investigator. Hut 'D' is a key-hole type (see NC80NE 21 for type-site.)
Visited by OS (N K B) 11 June 1981.

Sources/Archives (9)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 7527 9806 (208m by 239m) (6 map features)
Map sheet	NH79NE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	DORNOCH

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