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MHG53708 - Buildings and enclosures - Allt Druim Nan Torr

Summary

No summary available.

Type and Period (3)

Protected Status

Full Description

Visited by the Assynt's Hidden Lives project in December 2009. Spread around the area west of the A837 and east of Loch Assynt on undulating land with apparent natural rock outcrops are the remains of three structures.

137a (at NGR 224659 922574) is a very overgrown drystone enclosure aligned N/S measuring 20m by 18m composed of unworked, angular stones of less than 50cm in width which survive in walls up to 0.5m high and 0.7m wide, although there is up to 1m spread of walls in places. The enclosure is sub-rectangular in plan and is situated on uneven ground that slopes from down from north to south and west to east. The west wall is situated on top of a ridge and survives only with a few sparse stones spread along its route. There are no obvious internal features and although the east wall is truncated there does not appear to be an entrance anywhere. A few clearance cairns are located nearby.

137b (at NGR 224771 922576) is a ruinous, drystone building, measuring 18m by 5m, aligned N-S, consisting of two compartments. The walls survive up to 0.6m high, but are mostly no more than 0.3m, with a width of 0.7m or a spread width of up to 1m in places. Moss and bracken covered rubble debris from the walls litters the interior and surrounding area. There are two possible entrances on the east wall, one into each of the compartments and a possible internal entrance to the east of the internal dividing wall. None of these possible entrances are well defined and could instead be areas of collapse. There is an additional length of walling attached to the north-east corner of the building and aligned N-S which could have been another compartment or part of an enclosure, although only a 3.7m stretch of this remains.

137c (at NGR 224796 922557) consists of a drystone building measuring 10.4m by 5.3m, aligned N-S, with a conjoined, almost triangular enclosure measuring 32m by 22m, aligned NW/SE. The structures measure no more than 0.5m high and have collapsed in several places. The building has almost no remaining west wall.

Although initially identified as the township of Na Cuilean (see MHG12101), it could be thought of as a previously unrecorded site or perhaps one part of Na Cuilean which seem very separate due to the position of the A835 cutting through the township. <1>

No structures are shown at this location on Ordnance Survey 1st edition mapping. <2>

GIS spatial data amended in 2024 according to the location of the features as seen on 2016 vertical aerial photographs. <3>

NOTE: There is a fourth structure, an enclosure (see MHG63204), to the south and a fifth, also an enclosure, to the southeast near the road (see MHG63205) that were apparently not seen in 2009-10.

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 2473 2256 (166m by 51m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC22SW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ASSYNT

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Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

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