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MHG40530 - Hut Circles, Gleann Leireag

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

An area of stone, roughly sub-oval in plan. Very heavily overgrown with moss and bracken. The putative hut-circle consists of large stones c.0.6m by 0.4m roughly piled together. Little evidence can be seen of construction, and the identification as a hut-circle must remain uncertain.
50m to the E lies an earth/stone boundary running from the river up the hill to the N. The wall curves, standing up to a maximum of 1.1m high and a 1.5 in width, with an almost vertical side to the W and curved bank to the east. The boundary is of earth and gathered stone construction. <1>

Surveyed by Historic Assynt. In amongst the remains of a shieling, on a ridge above the burn is a degraded sub-circular stone structure with an internal diameter between 11.8m and 12.5m and with walls between 1m and 2m thick. This was surveyed at 1:100. The walling is better preserved around the south, west and north quadrants but the eastern quadrant has been almost completely robbed. A small pen, store or kiln has been built into the outer walling to the northeast. The whole structure could be a ruined animal enclosure, but the shape, size and location, degraded state of the walls and signs of later modification also suggest the possible remains of a substantial round house of Iron Age date (500BC – 500AD) or a little earlier. Against this interpretation recent analysis of peat cores in and around the shieling did not indicate any sustained human occupation in prehistory. So if the remains are those of a round house, it must have had a short life span. <2>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 1605 3072 (30m by 30m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC13SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ASSYNT

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