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MHG9294 - Farmstead - Kyle of Durness

Summary

An early modern settlement.

Type and Period (4)

Protected Status

Full Description

A settlement consisting of a long house 18m by 4.5m, two ovals 6m by 3m and 7m by 6m, a rectangle 6m by 4m with extension and a 4m square foundation with enclosure. A head-dyke, improved grazing, run-rig and old peat-cuttings also occur.
T C Welsh 1972n.

An early modern settlement generally as described by Welsh, although no features are oval. All structures are rectangular or sub-rectangular. The buildings generally survive only as footings, but the longhouse and a smaller structure 40m to the W survive to 1m high, strongly suggestive of secondary activity. There are scant traces of strip cultivation around the longhouse. The low head-dyke is clearly evident on the S side.
Visited by OS (JB) 28 April 1980.

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.

This site is generally as described in the NMRS after site-visits by T C Welsh in 1972 and OS (J3) in 1980. The longhouse walls now stand to 0.8 m high (4-5 courses of dry-stone construction) and are well-faced using angular, undressed boulders. There may actually be a small structure measuring 4 m by 3.5 m built on top of the longhouse as the remains here are more upstanding than in the rest of the building. There is a fugitive trace of a stone-footed dyke extending from the NE corner of the longhouse. This survey found no trace of the oval structures recorded by Welsh. No extension was noted to the 6 m by 4 m building located 40 m to the west of the longhouse. There is an extensive area of cultivation to the north of the structures and the head-dyke is visible to the south. The heavy bracken cover in this area is having a detrimental effect on the remains.

Situated on a gently inclined grass, bracken and heather slope above a small rocky beach (NC 3738 6509 is a small, dry-stone, sub-rectangular building. This measures 4 m by 3 m and stands to a maximum height of 0.6 m, though tumbled on the east side. The walls vary in thickness from 0.6 m -1 m and there is one prominent stone upright in the NE wall. The interior of the building may be circular although the volume of collapse in this area largely obscures the detail. This structure abuts, if not actually rests on top of, another narrower wall which is 0.5 m wide and can only be traced for 3.5 m to the east. The building is set within an enclosure defined by boulders set upright. There is an entrance to this enclosure c 13 m to the NE of the building and from where the enclosure curves to the SW, utilising natural outcrops to the west of the building as part of the boundary. The east side of this enclosure contains a pronounced mound of stone which may represent the ruins of another building. Although very ruinous and overgrown, this complex may be the remains of a corn drier, kiln or some such similar building. This site needs to be visited and surveyed after the heather and bracken, which obscures most of the detail, has been removed. <1>

NGR adjusted based on 1999-2001 vertical aerial photographs. <2>

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 3732 6514 (147m by 177m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC36NE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	DURNESS

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (2)

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