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MHG18476 - Farmstead - Loch Na Cathrach Duibhe

Summary

Farmstead with possible earlier longhouse and associated lazy beds.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

What may be an unroofed building is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1878, sheet xv). The structure is shown as a ruined building on the current 1:10,560 map (1983).
Infromation from RCAHMS (FO) 16 August 1995.

A rapid coastal zone assessment survey was conducted by GUARD in the Autumn of 1997 commissioned by Historic Scotland from the Viking and Early Settlement Archaeological Research Project based at the University of Glasgow.

Situated on the west side of a grass and bracken terrace 100 m from the HWM are several clearance-heaps along an area 70 rn N-S by 25 m. These heaps range in size from 15 m long by 3 m wide to 5 m in diameter and have been cleared from the centre of the terrace to leave a stone-free area. There is a ruined dry-stone structure at the north end of the terrace which measures 7.5 m NW-SE by 3 m internally and has walls surviving to 1.75 m high. There is an entrance on the west facing out over the loch. At the north of this entrance a curving wall extends from the structure, running SW for 5 m. This possibly served to corrall livestock into the building. This structure is abutted at the north by a possible yard defined by a collapsed stone wall with an entrance on the east. To the NE of this probable barn, and outside the area of this survey, are the ruins of a two-compartment house with west gable and chimney-stack still intact (NMRS number NC 46 SE 18). The interior of this house has two hearths set in the walls. Abutting, or under this house at the north, is either a yard-complex or an earlier longhouse. There is also a kiln associated with this structure, improved pasture, cultivation remains and traces of an earlier, pre-Improvement turf dyke. An area of `lazy-bed' cultivation probably associated with structures to the east (NMRS NC 46 SE 18) and with which it should be surveyed in the future.<1>

NGR adjusted based on 2023 vertical aerial photographs. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 4579 6143 (125m by 198m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC46SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	DURNESS

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Related Investigations/Events (1)

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