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MHG62948 - Linear feature - West of Street

Summary

Linear feature west of Street.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

The Inverness Field Club, led by Donald Coghill, surveyed a number of sites in the Aird area between 1987 and 1989. West of Street
Running uphill in a straight line north-eastwards from the entrance track to the fir wood is a very low eroded rampart which, after continuing a short distance in forestry, changes to a longer length of intermittent boulder walling in roughly the same alignment before all traces are lost. In this vicinity, and towards the N.W. there is a 12yd diameter hut circle. It has a very clearly defined, somewhat wide, unusual N.E. entrance which may be a later feature if there was subsequent use as a very small stock enclosure. There are also faint traces of what may have been an original entrance at the S.S.E. This enclosure is situated near the S.W. end of a level, formerly grassy, plateau running S.W. to N.E. and is one of four well spaced out circular earthworks that can still be traced with difficulty. A short distance to the N.E. of this but circle there is a a 5ft high 8yd diameter circular cairn well hidden underneath broken fir tree branches. From here northeastwards the remaining and much greater area of the plateau is covered with wind blown fallen timber, dense in places, beneath which there is a I7yd diameter hut circle. No entrance can be traced, but close by, to the S.W., there is a small cairn which, along with a similar one a little distance to the N.E., is part of a cairnfield which is scattered throughout this area and reaches well down towards the N.W. slope in places. Further to the N.E. there is a damaged 12yd diameter hut circle buried below fallen timber. Again no entrance can be traced, but nearby to the S.W. side there are two well-formed cairns of 5yds and 8yds diameter respectively, with another possible cairn adjacent. Further again to the N.E., and near the limit of the grassy forest floor, there is situated the fourth and last hut circle. It is of 14yds diameter and is obliterated in one section by unsympathetic forestry extraction, probably by the Canadian Forestry Corps during WWII. The earth works (now grassed over) resulting from their bulldozer operations, caused distortion of this site where an entrance cannot now be traced. There is the odd small cairn or two in this vicinity. Also, near the public road there are, for a few yards, traces of a very eroded minor linear earthwork running in a straight line at a slight angle to the road. This settlement, situated on an exposed windswept ridge, extends for about half a mile. <1>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 5415 3836 (20m by 20m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH53NW
Civil Parish	KILTARLITY AND CONVINTH
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

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