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MHG18780 - Enclosures - Druim Suardalain

Summary

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Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

NC12SW 7 125 217

Achadh a' Bhraghad: Shealing. "Field of the Braes".
Name Book 1878 <1>

An enclosure or field is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1878, sheet lxx), and on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map (1992).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 14 September 1995

Surveyed by the Assynt's Hidden Lives project in December 2009. This enclosure covers an area of c. 90 metres square, containing grassy pasture succumbing to bracken. The enclosure is constructed in dry stone, using varied rubble and forming a sub-square shape in plan. Much of the enclosure stands to original wallhead although short sections have collapsed entirely. A complex sheep bucht is situated on the east shore of Loch Druim Suardalain. The area has been improved, and there is good grazing around the shores of the loch. <2>

An archaeological desktop and walkover survey were undertaken by Historic Assynt in 2015 in an area of proposed woodland expansion in Glencanisp, Lochinver, Sutherland.

Site 4: Achadh a'Braghaid: FCS category B. An enclosed area of improved ground approximately 90m square within a dry stone dyke of 19th century style is shown on the 1st Edition OS 6inch map and was surveyed by the Hidden Lives Project. However the walled area lies within an unrecorded larger area of improved ground bounded by earth and stone dykes which are probably of earlier date and extend both north and south. This larger area is shown as a shieling on Home's survey and comprises two enclosures divide by a dyke which now lies just within the southern boundary of the stone walled enclosure. The full area lies between NC 12591 21891 in the north and NC 12454 21661 in the south. Both also extend a little west of the walled area to a dyke running north - south through NC12451 21757. A nearby farmstead (sites 9 & 10) may be associated with these fields making the combined area a category B site . <3>

The size of the enclosure as described in <2> is completely wrong, being far too small. The walled enclosure at the given grid reference matches the shape as described but is over 9,800m² - a slight misplacing of a decimal point perhaps? There is an extension to the enclosure of almost a similar size adjoining to the south though it is unclear whether it is of stone or turf construction or even both. Both enclosures are visible on aerial photographs. Both also overlie an earlier phase of what appear to be turf dyke enclosures of a more irregular shape, possibly related to the original 'Shealing' as noted in the OS Name Book (see MHG63617) [IS-L 12/11/2024].

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 1251 2178 (60m by 60m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC12SW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ASSYNT

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Related Investigations/Events (2)

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