Print

MHG28667 - Settlement and Field System - Allt na Beiste

Summary

An extensive area of field banks with some cultivation ridges and a cluster of buildings, identified during a pre-afforestation survey.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

Created automatically by NMRS Register Utility
User: Admin, Date: Fri 10 Mar 2000
----

A cluster of buildings and an extensive area of field-banks with some areas of cultivation ridges, covering roughly 10 hectares on the S bank of the Allt na Beiste were recorded during a pre-afforestation survey by Headland Archaeology. The area recorded forms part of a larger area comprising further buildings, banks and cultivation to the S and extending into the still-inhabitated settlement of Camascross (NG61SE 25) on the N.
Three of the buildings lie within a single well-defined enclosure on the W bank of the Allt Tarsuinn. One of the buildings is subrectangular and measures 11m by 4m and comprises a platform with traces of a wall at its N end, the other two are rectangular stone and turf-walled structures standing 0.5m high and measuring 10.5m by 4.5m and 8.5m by 4m respectively. A low oval turf structure, standing up to 0.2m in height and measuring 3m by 2m, lies some 60m to the W.
There are at least two periods of land-use visible within the field-system. The latter phase comprises a series of substantial turf and stone banks, standing to over 1m in height in places, which form a coherent set of irregular enclosures. Other detached sections of bank, particularly uphill to the S, appear to be fragments of an earlier enclosure system generally standing to no more than 0.3m in height. <1>

A small farmstead comprising four buildings lies within an enclosure on the NW bank of Allt Tarsuinn just before its confluence with Allt na Beiste. Two of the buildings are rectangular stone and turf-walled buildings, standing 0.5m high and measuring 10.5m by 4.5m and 8.5m by 4m respectively. Close to them is a sub rectangular platform which measures 11m by 4m, with traces of a wall at its N end. Some 60m to the W is a low oval turf building, standing up to 0.2m in height and measuring 3m by 2m.
This site was recorded during a pre-afforestation survey by Headland Archaeology in March 1998. The Headland survey suggested that it may be associated with the extensive field system which lies on the SE bank of Allt Tarsuinn. However, that field system appears to have been formed in association with several discrete farmsteads which are set within it and have been described seperately (see MHG34466).
Information from Ishbel MacKinnon, August 2011. <2>

Two structures are faintly visible on aerial photography captured 1999-2001, along with a long L shaped enclosing bank. <3>

The site does not appear on the 1st or 2nd edition OS maps.

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 6919 1111 (149m by 181m) (3 map features)
Map sheet	NG61SE
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	SLEAT

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (2)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (1)