Watching Brief

Date 28 March 2022 - 29 March 2022

Event ID 1166373

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1166373

NF 83230 60198 A watching brief was carried out during underground cabling works for the Aird 11kV line at Carinish North Uist. The watching brief was required for a c200m length of open cut trench adjacent to Carinish Stone Circle (Scheduled Monument 7580).

The fieldwork was carried out on 28–29 March 2022, during which excavations for the cable trench were monitored and the condition of the stone circle was recorded. The cable trench revealed deep deposits of peat but no archaeological features.

Six upright stones of Carinish Stone Circle (SM7580; Canmore ID: 10249) were visible under dense heather and grasses on the N side of the road, with one where the peat was heavily eroded, exposing the packing stones at the base. The slab was slumped over, but the exposure showed it extended below the current peat level. The other slabs were mostly short stumps just visible above the heather, with some collapsed and others with packing stones visible. Only one upright stone was visible on the S side of the road, which again had visible packing stones at its base.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks

Mary Peteranna – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Volume 23)