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MHG3936 - Depopulated settlement - Tordarroch

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NH63SE 49 6773 3340

These represent earlier dwellings and outbuildings of the Tordarroch estate. The state of decay varies from building to building. The best preserved are 2a and 2b which are recorded on the 1:2500 map so were presumably occupied within the last 150 years. In all, five structures were identified, one of which (2e) was probably a corn-drying kiln.
Surveyed in 1989 as part of a survey of lands around Tardarroch, Daviot and Dunlichty to identify and map archaeological monuments threatened by the proposed afforestation scheme. See report for details. <1>

About 100m to the SE of Tordarroch House, there are the remains of a township comprising four buildings, a small hut and a kiln. Three of the buildings sit on a terrace above Tordarroch House, with the fourth in a small gully about 100m to the SW. They range in length from 8.9m to 16.4m and in breadth from 3.3m to 4.5m within faced-rubble walls up to 1.1m in thickness and standing up to 0.9m high. One building (USN93 31) has a bedneuk on its SE side. This building also overlies an earlier structure, which extends 11.2m beyond its SW end. The kiln (USN93 28) is set into the WNW-facing slope beneath the main group of buildings. Its circular bowl measures 3.7m in diameter and 1.5m in depth, and the flue is visible on the WNW. There is a loading platform on the ESE and traces of what may have been a barn on the W. To the NW of these structures there is a knoll occupied by a small fort (NH63SE 29). Within the fort there is a group of nine pits measuring up to 3m in diameter, which may be storage pits associated with the township: similar pits are to be found close to other township buildings in Strathnairn. Below the fort, and set into the N side of the knoll, there is a hut which may also be associated with the township. It measures 3.2m in length by 2.5m in breadth within a stony bank spread to 1.1m in thickness.
At least three of the surviving buildings (USN93 30-32) can be identified on a map of Tordarroch, dating to c.1804, which shows a group of five buildings and 'Corn Yards' to the SE of Tordarroch House (SRO, RHP 1047). The first edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, 1875, sheet xx) shows two buildings, one roofed (USN93 32) and one roofless (USN93 31). By the time of the second edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, 1905, sheet xx), these buildings were both roofless.
(USN93 28-33)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 30 November 1992.

One roofed and one unroofed building are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1875, sheet xx). Both are unroofed on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1975).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 21 June 1996

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 6772 3340 (100m by 100m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH63SE
Civil Parish	DAVIOT AND DUNLICHITY
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

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