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MHG23882 - Sheep Fank - Allt A' Mhuillin, Glenelg

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Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

NG70SE 8 7640 0182

What may be a farmstead comprising one unroofed building and an enclosure which is annotated as a Sheepfold are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1876, sheet xcii) and on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1991) with the addition of a two compartment enclosure.
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 1 August 1996

On the S side of Allt na Faing near where it joins Allt a' Mhuillin on ground sloping very gently eastwards to Allt a' Mhuillin is a large sheep fank. There was an entry on the W side along a narrow passage-way 11m long WNW/ESE and 2m wide. Access to this entry must have been difficult as the ground level within the passage-way is about 0.5m lower than that on the exterior which may be why the WNW end of the passage-way has been roughly blocked.
From this passage-way are entrances on the N side into two enclosures. The western one is sub-rectangular, about 12m NNE/SSW by 5-8m, and has a creep-hole, about 0.5m wide and 0.7m high in its NW corner. The eastern one is rectangular, about 16m NNE/SSW by 4.5m. On the S side is the entrance to a sub-rectangular enclosure about 20m WNW/ESE by 15m which has an entrance in its W wall near its NW corner. At the ESE end of the passage-way is a large enclosure, about 30m square with an entrance centrally in its E wall. All walls are about 0.8m thick and 1.25m high and all wall joins are butt-jointed.
The passage-way suggests that it may have originally formed part of a house but there is no evidence of any part of the fank having been a part of house. The fank is situated on a grassy area about 100m square on which there is no evidence of cultivation, but if any existed, it has probably been washed away, as over the whole area are flood channels.

This sheep fank was noted by WCAS during a 2012 DBA and walkover survey in advance of a woodland creation scheme. It was a stone-built, well-preserved sheep fank that was standing up to 1.5m high with walls 0.75m wide. It measured 45m E-W by 35m overall. <1>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 7640 0182 (49m by 35m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG70SE
Civil Parish	GLENELG
Geographical Area	LOCHABER

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