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MHG9098 - Circular ditched enclosure - Tarradale

Summary

A ring ditch which is possibly the remains af a Bronze Age round barrow was excavated by the Tarradale Through Time project in Trench 2a in 2019.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

NH54NW 24 5487 4888.

NH 548 488. Air photography has revealed the crop-mark of a circular ditched enclosure immediately SE of the enclosure described on NH 54 NW 23; it measures about 30 m in diameter.
RCAHMS 1979; Visible on RCAHMS air phototgraph RC 1857-60, flown 1978

A programme of archaeological evaluation including geophysical and metal detecting surveys, and open area excavation, was carried out at the Tarradale Barrow Cemetery, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire between the 28 August and 21 September 2019, by the Tarradale Through Time Project. The cemetery and associated features at Tarradale form one of the largest to be identified through aerial imagery in Scotland. The Tarradale barrow cemetery is located on a terrace overlooking the Beauly Firth, around 300 metres northwest of Tarradale House (see Figure 1) at an altitude of approximately 15-20 metres OD (NGR NH 5493 4895). Set within undulating ploughed fields, nothing can be seen of the cemetery on the ground today. <1>

Aerial photography has identified the remains of an extensive barrow cemetery on higher ground 1 km north-west of the mouth of the Beauly river where it joins the Beauly Firth. Around 18 circular barrows are visible, the largest being 10 to 12 m in diameter. Eight square barrows are also distinguishable, measuring around 5 m to 6 m in diameter. Central features are visible in at least five of the barrows, possibly indicating grave cuts. An area of uncultivated land obscures the central area of the cemetery. A circular and a square enclosure are also visible to the north-west, as well as a trackway which runs through the cemetery. <2>

The 'Tarradale Through Time' excavation in September 2019 was a major research excavation to find out to what extent the features on the aerial photographs survive underground. We opened three large trenches (totalling almost half an acre) carefully chosen to explore the different patterns and sizes of the barrows. It soon became clear that the cemetery had been built on a vast scale.

In trenches 2a and 2b we investigated a very different soil type (a sandy substrate) with a very different pattern of barrows. Here (2a) we found a large segmented ring ditch some 30m in diameter, 1m-1.5m deep, and steep-sided, and while there was no sign of a grave within it, the presence of two fragments of beaker pottery (one from the ditch, plus an earlier topsoil find) hints at a Bronze Age date for this barrow. If this is correct, we believe that this earlier feature was still a prominent landmark in the landscape around 2000 years later when a large Pictish square barrow (17m across with causewayed corners and on stylistic grounds presumed to be Pictish) was laid out nearby (revealed in trench 2b). <3> <4>

Sources/Archives (5)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 5487 4889 (42m by 42m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH54NW
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	URRAY

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (3)

External Links (2)