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MHG49376 - Muck, Fionn-aird

Summary

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Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

NMRS Report: (07/02/2006)
NM47NW 50 from NM 41659 78696 to NM 41560 78916

A group of eleven huts and two pens is strung out along a natural terrace on the E flank of Fionn-aird. The terrace has been extensively cultivated in a patchwork of small plots of lazy-beds. The surface of the terrace is broken by numerous rock outcrops and low ridges, which effectively define the extent and direction of the smaller plots of lazy-beds. A stony bank links up the local topographical features to form an enclosure taking in the greater part of the terrace, cutting across its NW end, where the ground becomes wetter and more open, to terminate on a low knoll. Among the lazy-beds at this end of the terrace, there is one small hut (NM 41560 78916) and at least four heaps of field-cleared stones.

All but three of the other huts lie amongst plots of lazy-bed cultivation at the rear of the terrace; where the relationship between a hut and the cultivation can be observed, the huts always appear to be the earlier. The largest hut, which lies to the SE, measures 3.9m from NW to SE by 2.6m within a grass-grown stony mound spread up to 9.7m in overall diameter (NM 41659 78696). The mound is revetted by large boulders on the E, and its W sector is obscured by field-clearance, but what may be the remains of another hut are visible as an arc of stones on the NW. Three of the other huts also appear to be set into mounds, and at least one of these contains traces of another small hut or cell. The other huts in this cluster are subrectangular and defined by stony banks.

The three remaining huts lie below the area of cultivation to the front of the terrace, before the ground rises again onto a narrow ridge of outcrop. Two are separated only by a pile of stones, probably the result of field-clearance. One is subsquare, measuring 2m across within a stony mound 5m in diameter (NM 41668 78810); the other is oval in shape and measures 2m by 1.5m within a low stony bank (NM 41663 78815). The third hut lies a short distance to the S, but appears to overlie the lazy-bed cultivation. It is little more than an oval turf mound with a slightly dished interior (NM 41670 78787).
(Muck02, 317-19, 351-9, 420)
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG) 21 May 2002

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NM 41659 78696 (20m by 20m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NM47NW
Civil Parish	SMALL ISLES
Geographical Area	LOCHABER

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