Print

MHG57745 - Hut circle - Aultanfearn ('C')

Summary

One of ten hut circles at Aultanfearn.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

Hut circle 'C' - one of ten hut circles at Aultanfearn, not necessarily all contemporary. NOTE: previously all ten were included under a single record - see also individual records.

NH57NE 2 592 757.
Centred at NH592 757 on a generally SW-facing slope is a settlement of 7 stone-walled huts ('A' - 'G') and a contemporary field system. All the huts are oval, and apart from 'F' and 'G' are oriented N- S with an entrance in S either ill-defined or mutilated.
Hut 'C' (NH 5931 7574) is evident mainly as a platform, the same size as hut 'B' and also with frontal build up. Four or five outer wall facing stones can be seen in the SW.
Huts surveyed at 1/10 560.
Visited by OS (RL) 11 November 1970 and (ISS) 22 March 1973.

No change to previous field report. Surveyed at 1:10 000.
Visited by OS (JB) 18 November 1976

NH57NE 2.00 NH 592 757
NH57NE 2.01 NH 593 757 Hut-Circles
NH57NE 2.02 NH 593 757 Field-system; Small cairns

10 hut-circles of this unenclosed settlement are scattered over a distance of 400m along 275m contour. 4 of the hut-circles (B, C, E, and K) are platformed or terraced into the slope. Huts A-G were as recorded by the OS and a further three hut-circles and an extensive area of small cairns have now been identified.
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 1 December 1989

The hut circles were visited by C Dagg in 2011 during a walkover survey in advance of a proposed new forestry plantation on the north side of Strathrusdale. All ten hut circles were located. To the northwest of E and F no contemporary features were noted. The most prominent hut circle is D at NH 59281 75840, the only one with distinctively different vegetation from its surrounds: grass, moss and rushes, and with visible stones. Most of the hut circles are low, indistinct banks on platforms or slight knolls, heather-covered and with no visible stones. One circle, H, at NH 59452 75648, is cut by a post and wire fence and two are located east of this fence: G, at NH 59441 75599 is large with substantial banks and a sunken centre, and J at 59479 75597, adjacent to an artificially enhanced watercourse of much later date. Nine of the hut circles are between the 260m and 280m contours; only F is slightly higher, just below the 290m contour. The field clearance piles marking the extent of the contemporary field system are for the most part low, spread and flat-topped, often with mossy tops. These, and other features of cultivation noted in the OS survey, extend no further than the structures noted as site 7 (see MHG). <1>

GIS spatial data amended in 2018 according to approximate position as shown on old SMR 1:10,000 map. It should be noted, however, that this location on vertical APs puts a modern drainage ditch through the centre of it and this has not been noted before. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 5931 7574 (20m by 20m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH57NE
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	ROSSKEEN

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (2)