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MHG45231 - Hut circle etc, Breac-Leathad

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About 1/4 mile NW of Braemore Lodge, and some 80 yds above the road, is a hut circle. This is entered from ESE and measures interiorly 32 by 35ft. There is much stone lying in the interior, but no remains of any definite structure. The enclosing bank, of turf and stone, is much worn down.
Almost contiguous lies another circle with an interior diameter of 25 to 26ft and its entrance from the same direction. The bank, which is faced with stone, is about 5ft in thickness. A few feet to the W of the entrance to the first circle is a low stony mound with a diameter of about 10ft.
Some 80 yds E of two contiguous hut circles is another measuring interiorly 25 by 27ft with entrance in SE. Inner face of enclosing wall is revetted with upright stones. In the same area, and c80 yds above the road, are two hut circles some 40 yds apart, being 31 by 34ft and 34 by 36ft internal diameter respectively. Both entrances are in SE. The enclosing bank of the S hut is faced internally with stones set on edge. <1>

Centred ND 0660 3074. These hut circles, varying from 9-12m in diameter, are generally as described by RCAHMS. The interior of the circle at ND 0650 3080 seems to be divided into two compartments by a course of stones running E-W. A few metres S of this circle is a low mutilated mound of earth and stone, some 4m in diameter and 1m high on S side; and outside the entrance of the hut is a considerable amount of loose stone.
In addition to these, at ND 0651 3074, there is a hut circle scooped into the hill-slope on the N. It is 10m in diameter, and its enclosing earth-and-stone bank is 0.6m high. The entrance, in the SE, is 1m wide.
At ND 0655 3071, abutting W side of an old dyke, is another hut circle, 9.5m in diameter, scooped into hill-slope on N side.
The E side of the circle is destroyed by the dyke. Some 40m eastwards is another hut, 12m diameter, also scooped into slope, formed by an earth-and-stone bank 0.2m high. The entrance appears to have been from SE.
At ND 0652 3068 is a low, mutilated earth-and-stone mound, possibly a cairn, measuring 9.2 by 8.6m and 0.6m maximum height. Several large stones lie within it and other stones appear to form part of a kerb. Visited by OS (W D J) 20 June 1960.

There are five further hut circles in this area similar to eight already described by RCAHMS and previous OS field surveyor. The alleged cairn at ND 0652 3068 described by previous OS field surveyor may equally well be a mutilated hut circle, with the stones in the middle having been taken from the encircling wall. Only about ten field clearance heaps are apparent in the area, and there are no field banks or lynchets.
Hut circles surveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (N K B) 22 3 1968.

(ND 065 307) Enclosures : Cairn (NR) OS 6" map, (1962)

A settlement of thirteen hut circles (A - M) above N side of the Berriedale Water; the published feature at ND 0646 379 (on OS 1:2500 map) is a natural depression in the slope, and the alleged cairn at ND 0652 3068 may be a hut circle as stated by OS field surveyor (NKB). The huts are heather-covered, measure internally from 7m diameter to 11 by 10m across, and have entrances in SE, the line of the main axis when applicable. Walling where best preserved is spread from 2-3m and up to 0.7m high. In huts D and H there is the residue of a cross-wall. In interior of hut H and along SW front of both this hut and its almost contiguous neighbour on the E, hut G, is an appreciable quantity of stone. No plan is recoverable, but this stone is probably shieling bothy remains.
The only sign of associated land use is a scatter of half a dozen or so stone clearance heaps in the vicinity.
Visited by OS (J M) 26 August 1982.

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Location

Grid reference	Centred ND 0650 3070 (80m by 80m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	ND03SE
Civil Parish	LATHERON
Geographical Area	CAITHNESS

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