Archaeology Notes
Date - 1965
Event ID 656086
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/656086
NF76SE 9 7763 6157.
(Area : NF 776 617) Remains of what appears to be a wheel house, exposed by coastal erosion, are situated at A'Ceardach Ruadh (The Red Smiddy) on the west side of Baleshare Island where the machair ends in a sandy cliff above the beach. Two distinct floors were recognisable 8 or 9ft above HWMOST, and beneath the floors there was a deposit of stained sand with thick sherds.
About 40 sherds of thinner, typical undecorated 'wheelhouse' pottery were found along the foot of the cliff, all apparently from the wheelhouse. (H Fairhurst and W Ritchie 1963)
E Beveridge (1911) found slag and ashes here in quantity, and objects of flint, antler & pottery. He adds, apparently speaking of the area generally, '...Here cists and bones are sometimes disclosed... and pins of bone and brass have been found.'
The finds are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS). (PSAS 1922)
(E Beveridge 1911; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1922; H Fairhurst and W Ritchie 1963).
NF 775 617. A skeleton was excavated in September 1964 at the Ceardach Ruadh prehistoric site. Details of the excavation are held by Mr Crawford.
(I A Crawford 1964).
This site, at NF 7763 6157, is in the early stages of excavation. Without further information from the excavators it cannot be readily identified as a wheel-house.
Visited by OS (J T T) 31 May 1965.
