Archaeology Notes

Event ID 676072

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/676072

NN12NE 12 162 270

See also NN12NE 7 (Smithy).

Record missing.

As part of a training exercise, a group of students from the University of Glasgow Certificate in Field Archaeology course conducted an initial survey at this important village site in 1992, once famous as the home of the MacNab family of armourers and blacksmiths. Seven sub-rectangular buildings, varying in external length from 7.50m to 22m, and all about 6m in external length, were located, together with several smallenclosures and a trackway. The earliest feature of the site is a small dun (NN12NE 2), which appears to have been considerably robbed of stone for the surrounding sub-rectangular buildings. The longer rectangular buildings are older than those with a length of around 8m; the former have ruinous walls, less than 1m in height, whilst the latter have well-built walls surviving to a height of over 1 m, and with evidence for windows, doors, fireplaces and lime mortar pointing. One of the smaller buildings was known to be occupied in the 1950's AD.

The site is now within a clearing in conifer forest, managed by Tilhill Economic Forestry.

Sponsor: University of Glasgow Dept of Adult & Continuing Education

R McOwan 1991 & L Masters 1992.

A township, comprising two roofed, two partially roofed, two unroofed buildings, one unroofed structure, six enclosures and two fields is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Argyllshire 1875, sheet ci). Seven unroofed buildings and are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1977).

Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 30 July 1998.