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MHG29963 - Longhouse - Beinn an Duibh Leathaid A

Summary

A substantial longhouse recorded during a pre-afforestation survey and visible in aerial photography.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

Loch Barabhaig Survey site 4
JW 4/5/2001

A longhouse with rounded corners and large enclosure to the SSW of this building are visible on aerial photography captured 1999-2001. <1>

A round ended longhouse was recorded in a pre-afforestation survey by Wordsworth Archaeological Services in 2000. It measured 15m by 5m with walls surviving up to 1.2m high and 1m thick survived in good condition just to the S of the proposed fence line. It was aligned almost N/S with a single entrance on the E side. It lies in a bracken-clad area of richer grassland.
10m to the S is a remnant E/W dyke forming an edge to the more herb-rich grassland. A 5 m length of dyke to the SW has clearly been robbed by later peat cuttings.
c70m to the SW is a large dyked enclosure (see MHG58272) which may be related.
It was recommented that this site was left unplanted with a suitable buffer. The excluded area should include
the dyked enclosure. <2>

In 2002, recording and reinstatement work was undetaken to 7 sites damaged by mounding operations. This site suffered from 286 scoops and associated mounds (planted with trees) within the 20m agreed buffer zone, which approached within 2m of the walls of the house. The site was photographed and all scoops examined for signs of cultural deposits and related artefacts. Hand dug mounding (10%) had again not penetrated through the topsoil. The mechanically dug scoops however had penetrated well into the sub-soil reaching a maximum depth of 410mm. No cultural deposits or artefacts were recorded. <3>

A substantial dry stone building is situated on good, dry, flat ground, amongst bracken at NG69002 10915, as described above. It is rectangular with curved corners, both internally and externally, and measures 12.2m x 4.1m internally, with a doorway, 0 .9m wide, in the N wall and a window, centrally located in the S wall. A lambing pen has been built in the W end. The walls, which stand over 1.3m high and 1.2m thick, are built of rough, poor quality dry stonework with some evidence of turf, particularly on top of the stone and on the NNE face and gable ends. This building is very similar in size and design to another which lies at NG 68568 10749. Both appear to be of a more recent style than the majority of the other buildings in Baravaig.
Uphill about 90m to the N, on the NE boundary of the cultivated ground, at NG 69000 11013, there is a second building, built of turf. The back wall if this building forms, or is incorporated into, a turf dyke which appears to enclose the cultivated ground. The building is aligned NW – SE and measures c8m long, with an entrance in the SW wall and a very narrow terrace in front of the entrance, from which the land falls steeply away. There appears to be a path leading down to the lower ground.
Information from SRP Camuscross, August 2011. <4>

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

Sources/Archives (4)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 6899 1091 (13m by 11m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG61SE
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	SLEAT

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Investigations/Events (2)

External Links (1)