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MHG2894 - Craggie Cottage

Summary

A total of 13 hut circles have been recorded across this area by the Ordnance Survey, together with elements of a field system. Part of the area is scheduled.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

Centred 732 382.

(A: NH 7325 3846) Hut Circle (NR)
(B: NH 7321 3842) Hut Circle (NR)
(C: NH 7313 3825)
(J: NH 7314 3824) Hut Circles (NR)
(K: NH 7314 3823)
(D: NH 7308 3822) Hut Circle (NR)
(E: NH 7298 3821) Hut Circle (NR)
(F: NH 7321 3819)
(G: NH 7322 3820) Hut Circles (NR)
(H: NH 7323 3825) Hut Circle (NR)
OS 6"map, (1967)

Centred at NH 732 382 in an area of cleared woodland on a NW-facing slope, is a settlement of 12 circular and one oval stone-walled huts ('A' - 'N') and an associated field system.. (Ten of the huts ('A' - 'K') were found and surveyed by OS in 1963).
Hut 'A' measures c. 8.5m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.0m all round. Outer facing stones are discernible in the S arc, and one inner in the NW. In the ENE arc is a 'simple' entrance, c. 1.0m wide. The hut is built against natural rock outcrop on the W side.
'B' is c. 7.5m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.0m all round. Occasional inner and outer facing stones are visible but insufficient to allow accurate measurement of overall diameter or wall thickness. The 'simple' entrance, c. 1.0m wide, is in the ENE.
'C' is c. 10.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. Occasional outer facing stones are evident, and the 'simple' entrance, c. 2.0m wide, is in the W.
'D' measures c. 6.5m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.0m all round, with occasional outer facing stones visible. The 'simple' entrance, c. 1.0m wide, is in the ENE.
'E' measures 10.0m overall diameter with a wall 1.6m thick all round, but generally spread to c. 2.5m. Several outer and three inner facing stones are visible. The 'simple' entrance, c. 1.0m wide, is in the ESE. Several outer facing stones are visible in hut 'F', giving an overall diameter of 9.5m with a wall spread to c. 2.0m. The 'simple' entrance, c.1.0m wide, is in the E arc.
'G' is 11.5m overall diameter with a wall spread to c. 2.0m, the outer face of which is visible for most of the periphery. The mutilated entrance, c. 2.0m wide, is in the E. A break in the wall in the W is almost certainly a mutilation.
'H' is 8.5m overall diameter with a wall spread to c. 2.0m all round. Several outer facing stones are visible, and the 'simple' entrance, 0.9m wide, is in the SE.
Huts 'J' and 'K' are contiguous, lying N-S.
The northerly hut, 'J' measures c. 9.0m in diameter between the centres of a rubble wall spread to c. 2.0m all round. In the NE arc are six outer facing stones set on edge. No entrance can be traced. Within the hut is a curving cross-wall spread to c. 1.5m, which is apparently of the same style of construction as the hut wall, but due to the covering of heather it cannot be ascertained whether this wall is contemporary with the hut. No entrance is discernible in the cross-wall to allow access between the subdivisions of the hut.
'K' is c. 9.5m in diameter with a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. No facing stones or entrance are visible.
Hut 'L', at NH 7296 3839, is c. 9.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 3.0m in the W, but ill-defined in the E where there is a dunuded entrance gap c. 2.0m wide.
Hut 'M', at NH 7312 3826, is c. 6.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.0m. No facing stones can be seen, and the 'simple' entrance, c. 1.0m wide, is in the S.
Hut 'N', at NH 7327 3282, is oval, measuring c. 13.0m E-W by c. 10.5m between the centres of a wall spread to c. 3.5m all round. The ill-defined entrance is in the E.
The field system comprises stone clearance heaps, lynchets, and infrequent ruined field walls which form cultivation plots, average size 30.0m x 20.0m. Several hollow-ways cut through the field system, but these are almost certainly later.
Visited by OS (W D J) 30 August 1963 and (N K B) 9 April 1963.

Another hut, 'O', at NH 7308 3824, measures c. 6.0m between the centres of an ill-defined wall, with no entrance evident.
Huts L, M, and O surveyed at 1:2500.
Huts, A, B, and G revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (I S S) 3 January 1972. <1>

Very oblique air photographs, taken by Jill Harden in 1989, are in Inverness Museum (8907.08-10 INVMG).
Information from J Harden 1989. <2>-<4>

Colour photograph, taken from Daviot across Craggie Farm. <5>

Several of the grid references given in the OS report above appear to be incorrect, when compared to the Ordnance Survey mapping, at various scales. Individual records have been made for all of these hut circles as they cover a quite wide geographical area. The following grid references have been corrected to correspond with the location of hut circles as they appear on Ordnance Survey mapping; in most instances this appears to have been a transcription error:
Hut A: NH 7325 3856
Hut B: NH 7321 3852
Hut C: NH 7313 3832
Hut D: NH 7308 3832
Hut E: NH 7298 3831
Hut F: NH 7321 3819
Hut G: NH 7322 3820
Hut H: NH 7323 3825
Hut J: NH 7314 3834
Hut K: NH 7314 3833
Hut L: the grid reference is as given (NH 7296 3839)
Hut M does not appear on any Ordnance Survey mapping, so the given grid reference (NH 7312 3826) is assumed to be correct.
Hut N: NH 7328 3780 - this is the grid reference given at the top of the original SMR record card but a different grid reference is given further down the record, this is the one that appears in the electronic record. The grid reference given at the top of the card is corroborated by a number of Ordnance Survey maps, appearing to fit the description prodvided, so is presumed to be correct. NH 7327 3822, given in the electronic record, does not correspond with any mapped sites.
Hut O does not appear on any Ordnance Survey mapping, so the given grid reference (NH 7308 3824) is assumed to be correct.

Information contained in the event record pertains to a number of site visits carried out between 1992 and 1998 (see EHG1919 for description). These record the difficulty of surveying the site due to the coverage of heather across this area. In 1992, the field clearance cairns were the mostly readily identifiable features. A site visit in 1994 stated that "It was not possible to positively identify the numerous other hut circles described by the Ordnance Survey, 25 - 30 years ago, although many dykes and field clearance cairns are visible under the deep heather cover." <6>

Scheduled entry for this monument records 13 round houses, varying in diameter from 6m to 12m between the centres of the collapsed walls spread from 2m to 2.5m wide. <7>

A sketch plan of the area, by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Warden. Showing which hut circles were locatable in 1994. This comments that some hut circles identified in the vicinity by the OS in 1963 and 1970 were not positively located. Only hut circles F, G, J and K seem to have been positively located. <8>

Sources/Archives (9)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 7319 3820 (600m by 600m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH73NW
Civil Parish	DAVIOT AND DUNLICHITY
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (14)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (2)