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MHG40409 - Torboll

Summary

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Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

(A: NH 7377 9968) Hut Circle (NR)
(Centred NH 736 998, NH 738 998 and NH 739 995) Cairns (NR)
OS 6"map, (1959)

Centred at NH 739 996 is a settlement of three stone-walled huts (A - C) and an associated field system.
Hut 'A', (noted by the RCAHMS 1911 as a circular enclosure) is the best preserved and measures 12.0m in diameter within a rubble wall, whose inner face of contiguous stones set on edge is visible for almost the whole periphery. Occasional outer facing stones can be seen, giving a wall thickness of 2.0m. A gap in the ESE marks the entrance, but no details survive. The RCAHMS (1911) describe an entrance passage, 10 1/2' long, flanked on the W by a triangular mural chamber, and on the E within the hut by a small enclosure but these are no longer visible and the RCAHMS may have misinterpreted tumble at this point. Field walls extend from the N and S walls of the hut.
'B' (noted by the RCAHMS as a circular enclosure) is c.10.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c. 2.5m all round, with occasional outer facing stones visible. The entrance is in the NW. The RCAHMS mention another narrow entrance in the SE but this is due to mutilation.
'C', described by OS field investigator (N K B) in 1964 as two enclosures, is a mutilated hut, attached in the NE to a semi-circular enclosure wall open to the NE, which may be secondary and overlie the hut. The hut measures c. 16.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c.2.5m all round. The entrance is in the SE. A clearance heap lies against the N wall which is partly destroyed.
'Y' (noted by the RCAHMS as a hut circle) is an excavated stone clearance heap.
'X', at NH 7347 9965, is a shallow platform c.12.0m in diameter, set into a S-facing slope. There is no trace of walling at any point around the perimeter, but it may be a denuded hut.
The field system is defined by stone clearance heaps, which the RCAHMS describe as "mounds", field walls, and lynchets forming cultivation plots, about 30.0m by 20.0m average size.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909; Visited by OS (W D J) 6 April 1964 and
(N K B) 17 November 1969.

(A: NH 7378 9969) Hut Circle (NR)
(B and Y: NH 7393 9959 and NH 7410 9955) Hut Circles (NR)
(C: NH 7387 9960) Enclosures (NR)
OS 6" map, (1969).

Revised at 1:10560.
Visited by OS (A A) 28 July 1975.

The settlement and field system are as discribed by OS (N K B). A further hut circle (D) was discovered at NH 7378 9962 during field investigation. It measures about 11.0m NW-SE by 9.5m transversely within a heather-covered stone wall surviving to 0.3m high and spread to 2.5m wide. There is a simple entrance in the SE arc.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (N K B) 15 October 1980.

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 7385 9963 (30m by 30m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH79NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	DORNOCH

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