Archaeology Notes
Date 14 July 1997
Event ID 744790
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/744790
NJ21SW 16 2491 1226, 2493 1224 and 2493 1226
For ironstone mine at NJ 2432 1026, see NJ21SW 17.
Iron Mine [NAT] (at NJ 2491 1226)
Smithy [NAT] (at NJ 2493 1224)
OS 1:10,560 map, 1872.
'Iron Mine. This name is applied to a few trial holes in a hill in the immediate neighbourhood of the Leight. The stone is considered by those who are judges to contain a high percentage of ore, but in consequence of its being so far from any railway the expenses of working it would be very great. There is no company working it at present. The property of Mr Farquharson, Allargue.'
OS Name Book, 1869.
The remains of the ironstone mine and smithy depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, sheet lix, 1872) can be identified in an area of deep, heather-covered peat in the upper valley of the Burn of Loinherry, about 700m SSE of the Lecht Ski Centre.
The smithy (NJ 2493 1224) is rectangular on plan but open-sided on the SSE. The interior measures 7.4m from NNW to SSE by about 4m transversely and is defined by scarps on the NNW and ENE, where the interior has been dug into the slope, and a bank 2.1m in thickness and 0.8m in height on the WSW. A level platform within the NNE corner of the building may indicate the location of the smelting-hearth or forge.
Some 22m N of the smithy (NJ 2493 1226) there is a heap of overburden material, measuring up to about 16m from N to S and 3m in height. On the S it is contained by a low stone revetment and on the W it is currently being eroded by the stream. Elsewhere, to the E of the stream, and for the most part to the N of the smithy, there are several amorphous heaps of clinker-like material which may be either ore or waste. Depressions, scree deposits and areas of outcrop to the W of the stream may also indicate areas of working.
A comprehensive collection of records (including geochemical analyses) relating to ironstone workings around the Lecht (and the possible construction of a railway to service them) is held at Allargue House (NJ20NE 13.00) by Colonel F Tuck.
Visited by RCAHMS (RJCM, JRS), 14 July 1997.
