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MHG66273 - Cairn/clearance cairn - Airdtorrisdale

Summary

A large clearance-cairn which measures 5 m N-S by 4 m.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

This township comprises forty-three roofed buildings and eight unroofed structures as it is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1878, sheet xvii). Twenty-four unroofed buildings, two roofed buildings, and five unroofed structures are depicted on the current edition of the OS 1:10,560 map (1964).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 15 August 1995

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.

On a gently sloping, grassed area between the steep hinterland slope and the grass-and-boulder beach is a large clearance-cairn which measures 5 m N-S by 4 m and is apparently built on top of a natural outcrop. The details of the lower part of this cairn are obscured by undergrowth, although it would appear that some of the boulders at the top have been added to the cairn later than those at the bottom. Where the cairn has eroded at the W (presumably due to animal burrowing) to reveal the fabric, that fabric consists of smaller stones than those visible at the top: there is, therefore, a possibility that this represents later clearance heaped onto an earlier funerary cairn. Approximately 15 m to the SE is a small outcrop to which some stones have been added. <1>

Note: Site not visible on aerial photographs so location based on grid coordinates. (TB 4/9/26)

Sources/Archives (1)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 6776 6210 (14m by 14m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC66SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	TONGUE

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

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