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MHG12152 - Homestead - Sandwood Loch

Summary

The remains are clearly of several periods of occupation.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

(Area NC 227 655) A possible hut circle lies on the ridge above the outlet of Sandwood Loch to Sandwood Bay.
OS 6"map annotated by J E N Sloan, plus slide and letters, 9 and 16 August 1973.

NC 2266 6524. Exposed in eroded blown sand on a natural rocky terrace, is a homestead comprising a group of two, possibly three enclosures. As no other feature was located in the area, this site is presumably the one noted by the previous authority. The group comprises a main, sub-oval enclosure, with another adjoining it on the SE side. A third, much less substantial enclosure may have adjoined this second enclosure on the NE side. The major enclosure is 14.5m NNE-SSW by 6.0m internally. The majority of the inner face survives, defined by contiguous small slabs on e edge, 0.4m in average height. Little evidence of an outer face occurs except on the N side of the entrance; generally the inner face appears to have been simply backed by rubble. This rubble band now varies in width from 0.7m to 2.0m. The stone-lined entrance is in the NW; a further gap to the S is the result of disturbance. The interior is fairly level and, in common with the rest of the site, covered with sand and scattered stones, including numerous pot-boilers. The second enclosure is sub-rectangular and measures 11.5m by 7.0m internally. Constructionally it resembles the first with a distinct inner face on the S side, an in the SW and indistinct gap between the two enclosures may mark the entrance. A hearth-like setting of eight loose stones occurs in the interior; the looseness of the stones does not confirm them as a later feature as due to the erosion, several previously earthfast facing stones have slackened. The interior is level except in the SE where there is a depression caused by digging or perhaps erosion, which has largely destroyed the wall in this sector. Embedded in the blown sand in the central area the broken top of a rotary quern was discovered during field investigation; however, there is no evidence of cultivation associated with the homestead. The possible third enclosure is defined only by bands of rubble and partly by rock outcrop; its true nature cannot be ascertained from the indistinct remains.
The construction of the wall involving upright slabs retaining a rubble core is a common technique used in hut circles, and this homestead may be broadly contemporary; certainly its appearance is of considerable antiquity. Similar homogenous, nucleated homesteads occur elsewhere in Sutherland. Located in such an isolated position, it could be suggested that the homestead was constructed by seafarers utilizing the excellent beaching facilities of Sandwood Bay, which are rare on this coast. Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (J B) 20 June 1980.

It would seem that the physical condition of the remains has not changed greatly since 1980. Some differences arise in the interpretation, however. The structure sits on a flat rocky shelf of land 30m above the short river outlet of Sandwood Loch and commands a fine view south westwards over the loch and beach towards Druim na Buainn. To the east the land continues to rise in a series of steep rocky slopes while to the south, along the eastern shore of the loch, are grasslands. The remains are characterised by a semi-circular enclosure at the north end of the shelf, 8m in diameter with 1m thick walls only a single stone high with inner and outer skins and a rubble core. A 1.0m entrance occurs in the west side just before the wall ceases to exist. The south east third of the circle is missing and a horn shaped extension extends 7m in that direction with walling of a lighter construction and only a single stone thick.

The whole western side extending round to the south is steep and littered with tumble and in the south is a 7m wide area of landslip which has removed the ephemeral traces of an encircling wall along the edge of the shelf. This wall as manifest at the south end beyond the slippage was 1.0m thick but now survives only as a basal course. Above the area of landslip is an 8.0m length of walling 0.6m wide and 0.4m high lying north west to south east and having a curved return at the south east end 3m long ending on the slippage line. To the north east of the wall is a large rock outcrop 9m long which has a poorly built length of wall extending from its south east end 6m to the edge of the shelf where trace of the heavier encircling wall ends.

The remains are clearly of several periods of occupation. As shown in the adjacent sketch, the original is likely to have been a small dun-like structure 8m in diameter with an enclosure 16m long extending to the south along the edge of the shelf. The identification of a small coastal dun at Polin (Feature 2.11 below) is noteworthy in this context. Later, when the site was ruinous and the enclosure wall collapsed, a house was inserted into the enclosure to the south of the old dun. This was modified to form a new enclosure by the removal of a length of south west wall to create a larger yard but employing the bulk of the larger structure. Nothing now remains of the long south west wall of the house due to the landslip, but whether the site had been abandoned prior to this event is unclear. <1>

NGR adjusted based on 1999-2001 vertical aerial photographs. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 2266 6530 (29m by 32m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC26NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	EDDRACHILLIS

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