Archaeology Notes

Event ID 662051

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/662051

NH64NW 18 619 498

(NH 6205 4993) Enclosures (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

The two published enclosure appear to be the easternmost of three pairs of large, circular enclosures with entrances 6' wide in the E or ESE arc.

The banks are of stone, now spread and turf-covered, 8' - 10' wide and about 1' high with diameters ranging from 49' - 61' from crest to crest. Jolly (W Jolly 1882) shows an earthen mound connecting the three pairs of enclosures (See also NH65SE 12).

A stone, in which is cut a tapering cup 8" in both depth and diameter, lies in the easternmost circle. It is locally supposed to have curative properties, but it may have been a socket stone for a roof pole.

W Jolly 1882; W J Watson 1924; A A Woodham 1956; Information from A A Woodham to OS, undated.

A settlement of six circular stone-walled huts (A - F) in pairs as illustrated by Jolly (W Jolly 1882), centred at NH 619 498 on a wooded ridge. The wall of each hut is is denuded and spread to about 3.0m all round, and each has an ill-defined entrance in the E to ESE arc. They are all mutilated by trees. All hut diameters are given between wall centres.

Hut 'A', at NH 6206 4992, is c. 15.0m in diameter. Within the S arc is the holed stone, as described and illustrated by Jolly (W Jolly 1882); it is known locally as the "Wailing Stone", and still believed to have curative powers. Its function is obscure.

'B' at NH 6203 4991, is c. 17.5m in diameter.

'C', at NH 6194 4986, is c. 17.0m in diameter.

'D', at NH 6191 4986, is c. 16.0m in diameter.

Immediately S of the entrance are three conglomerate blocks, only one in situ, which were probably part of the outer wall face.

'E', at NH 6187 4981, is c. 19.0m in diameter.

'F', at NH 6186 4979, is c. 14.5m in diameter. It is uncertain because of its denuded E arc if hut 'E' overlies it or if the huts were contiguous.

The wall shown by Jolly (W Jolly 1882) connecting the huts can still be traced, and there are traces of one or two clearance heaps mutilated by forestry activities; they are probably from contemporary cultivation plots, (but see NH64NW 20).

Surveyed at 1:2500. (visited by OS {R B} 10 March 1966)

Visited by OS (A A), 11 January 1971.

(Name: NH 6198 4984) Settlement (NR)

(Six hut circles depicted in the positions given by OS field surveyor 11 January 1971)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1974)