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MHG45495 - Burnt Mound - Rosal Settlement

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NC64SE 12 689 416
See also NC64SE 28.

(NC 689 416) Rosal (NAT) OS 6"map, (1961)

The remains of township of Rosal whose lands are first on record in 1269 and which was cleared 1814-18, since when it remained relatively undisturbed until in 1962 excavation and survey by Fairhurst made it a type-site for clearance depopulation. The arable lands of township extended over 60 acres and were enclosed by a dry-stone dyke, the plough rigs surviving as a green island in the rough moor. Seventy structures were recognised of which 15 to 18 were long-houses, the remainder being barns, outhouses, stackyards and corn-drying kilns. The barns were rectangular with one rounded end. A few of the buildings had bowed walls and rounded ends and it is suggested that these may be earlier than the others. Selective excavation was undertaken on a typical complex consisting of long-house, barn, stackyard, outhouse and corn-kiln. The long-house was built on a slope with first, a small room at the upper end, then the main living quarters around a central hearth and finally the long byre giving an overall length of 85ft, though other long-houses reached a length of 108ft. The walls consisted of dry-stone work up to a height of 2 or 3ft, presumably forming the base for a turf wall. The roof was supported on couples which rose from ground level. Efforts to locate Medieval house-sites proved fruitless presumably because the buildings were constructed without foundation trenches and were abandoned and the building stones re-used at relatively short intervals. Earlier occupation of the site is indicated by the Iron Age hut-circles and souterrain (NC64SE 28).
H Fairhurst 1969.

Rosal is as described by the previous authorities.
Visited by OS (J L D) 7 May 1960.

NC 6870 4178: Burnt Mound
This burnt mound is situated on E side of a boggy gully within the ring-dyke of Rosal Township, some 60m ESE of entrance to the Forestry Commission walk. It comprises two oval mounds set parallel to each other across the slope; merging with the natural slope to the SE and opening out to the NW. It measures 7.4m from NE to SW by 5.7m transversely and up to 0.6m in height. Exposures in both arms revealed cracked stone set in a matrix of black soil.
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 18 July 1991.

A township comprising nine unroofed buildings, one of which is T-shaped, one unroofed structure, which may be another building, and a ring dyke is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1878, sheet xliv). Thirty-nine unroofed buildings, what may be the remains of a two-compartment, long building, one enclosure and a ring dyke are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map (1992).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 5 October 1995

FE Management Plan, See assoc. docs. File.
J Aitken : 30/03/01.

Tongue/Farr Local Plan, Oct 1995: P6/1.24. Opportunities will exist for improved access, parking and interpretation, possibly including a new bridge across the Naver from the main road at the Gloomy Memories Cairn.
J Aitken : 11/06/01.

Sources/Archives (4)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 6890 4160 (16m by 16m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC64SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	FARR

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