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MHG54272 - Building - Smoo cave

Summary

An C18-C19 ruined building associated with Smoo Cave.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A rapid coastal zone assessment survey was conducted by GUARD in the Autumn of 1997 commissioned by Historic Scotland from the Viking and Early Settlement Archaeological Research Project based at the University of Glasgow.

At the mouth of Smoo Cave is a building measuring 9 m NE-SW by 6 m NW-SE. This building has lime mortared walls 0.6 m thick and the SW gable stands almost entirely intact to over 4 m high. The NE gable stands only 2.5 m high with the pointed top having collapsed in to the interior. The SE wall has a 2 m gap in the central section and this was presumably where the entrance was but this wall is in a poor condition, surviving in places to 2 m but levelled to the ground in others. This structure has an associated stone dyke which runs off the SW corner to the erosional edge of the Alit Smoo. This dyke is under heavy nettle cover but appears to be dry-stone built and surviving to 4-5 courses. The course of the Alit Smoo delineates the rest of the platform upon which this building stands. The NW wall of the building has been protected by the revetment of the grassed outcrop at the rear of the platform but this is collapsing and landslip is encroaching on to the site. <1>

A small building measuring approximately 8x6m. The building appears on both the 1st and 2nd edition OS Map and so dated to, at latest, c. 1874.

The site was visited and photographed by A Puls of Highland Council in September 2013.

Sources/Archives (1)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 4185 6718 (7m by 8m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC46NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	DURNESS

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Related Investigations/Events (1)

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