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MHG28039 - Hut circle and souterrain - Cnoc Achadh na h-Uaighe

Summary

A hut circle and souterrain at Cnoc Achadh na h-Uaighe.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

One of four hut circles within an associated field system at Cnoc Achadh na-Uaighe. Recorded by the OS as hut circle 'A'. There is also an ?associated souterrain.

Just beyond Achadh na h-Vaighe crofts is a very considerable group of mounds. Near the centre of the group, on the upper side of the two tracks that run to West Langwell, is a hut circle with an entrance from the south-east. It measures internally 39 by 42ft. With a bank about 6ft thick. Just above the upper track and a short distance to the west of the last-mentioned hut are the dilapidated foundations of a more complicated structure. It comprises three compartments; a main oval one measuring 17 by 29 1/2ft into which the entrance opens from the south; and two apsidal compartments opening off it, one at the north and another towards the south-west, each measuring internally 16 by 14ft. The principal entrance is 2ft 8ins wide, through a passage 8ft long. <1>

There are three hut circles (A-C) and an extensive field system.
Visited by OS (R B): 1.3.1966

On the W flank of Cnoc Achadh na h-Vaighe is a settlement of three hut circles (A-C) one (A) with a souterrain, and an accompanying well-preserved field system. The hut circle described by the RCAHMS is probably A, the most upstanding of the three huts, and the "complicated structure", is probably that at NC 7160 0755, described later.
Hut A, levelled into a slight change of slope and partially heather and turf-covered, measures 10.5m diameter within walling, 0.8m high and spread to 2.5m expanding to 3.5m in the sides of the entrance in the SE; the walling is distinguished by a fairly well-preserved inner face of large boulders, some up to 1.1m high. The hut interior contains an amount of turf-covered debris and also possible footings of a bothy-type structure 3.0 by 2.5m.
Extending radially from NW exterior of the hut and curving round to the W, is the collapsed line of a souterrain. It shows as a depression, 0.8 to 1.1m deep by 2.5 to 3.0m wide by some 12.0m long, with stone protruding in the turf-covered bottom particularly one lintel-type slab; opposing blocks in the sides of the depression near the hut end are 1.0m apart. The continuity of the depression is broken by two transverse ridges, possibly indicating lintel slabs remaining in situ.
Revised at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (J M) 6 April 1981.

The hut circle was visited by RCAHMS IN 1995 as part of the Rogart survey. This hut-circle (OS 'A'), with its adjoining souterrain, is levelled into the slope on a small terrace. It measures 10m in diameter within a substantial boulder-faced bank 2.2m in thickness and 0.8m in height; the terminals of the bank have been expanded externally on either side of the entrance, which is on the SE. The souterrain, which is visible as an oval hollow, extends for 11.1m to the NW from within the hut-circle wall, and measures up to 3.3m across by 0.5m in depth. There is no break in the line of the inner face of the hut-circle bank where it is underlain by the souterrain, and the position of the entrance into the souterrain is not clear. There is a low upcast mound around the edge of the souterrain hollow, possibly produced as a result of stone robbing from the structure, suggesting that the walls, or roof, of the souterrain may, originally, have risen above the surface of the ground. There is a subrectangular hut in the interior of the hut-circle.
(ROG95 42) Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 9 March 1995 (see also <2>)

GIS spatial data amended in 2019 according to site as seen on 1999-2001 vertical APs. <3>

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 7165 0751 (27m by 24m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC70NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ROGART

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Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

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