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MHG26505 - Farmstead/settlement - Rhibanchor

Summary

Remains of the former farmstead/settlement of Rhibanchor.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

Remains of the former farmstead/settlement of Rhibanchor.

What may be a farmstead comprising three unroofed buildings is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Nairnshire 1871-5-6, sheet xi), but it is not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1974).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 9 August 1996

The site was visited and recorded during a walkover survey by Highland Archaeology Services in 2009 as part of an environmental assessment for a possible access route to the proposed Tom nan Clach wind farm. Thirty-three structures were identified and recorded, most of which were within three post-medieval rural settlements in the Rhilean Burn valley. The settlement of Rhibanchor lies above a river valley and adjacent to a modern road. It is shown on the 1st Edition OS 1:10560 map as three unroofed structures (or open pens) and is annotated as being ‘in ruins’. It does not appear on the present day 1:25000 OS map. It is on a moraine terrace c10m above the river and may have existed before the 1829 flood and survived, or have replaced earlier buildings in the haugh that were destroyed by the flood. The farms of Banchor and Little Banchor are in the Findhorn valley less than 2km north of Rhibanchor and it is probable that Rhibanchor was first used as a summer shieling attached to the farm of Banchor. There were at least five dry stone building structures and one dry stone enclosure wall. One of the structures sat detached and four were semi-detached in pairs. The present track ran on the north side of the township, so close that a corner of one building, the end wall of another building and one wall of the pen had been truncated. Two sub-circular structures, possibly shielings, lay 40m E of the settlement surrounded by evidence of earlier landuse. On the haugh below the settlement terrace there was a ‘D’-shaped, flat-topped moraine mound 15m wide with a substantial turf and stone-built pen attached to its eastern end, retained by dry stone walling. <1> <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 9125 3874 (100m by 100m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH93NW
Civil Parish	ARDCLACH
Geographical Area	NAIRN

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

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