Rum, Glen Shellesder

Glen Shellesder4 NG339017 NG30SW

At least fifteen shieling huts are situated at heights of between 130m and 80m OD on the N side of Glen Shellesder, about 1.2km inland. The huts vary in shape between oval and subrectangular, and some have two compartments.

RCAHMS 1983, visited May 1983

A group of at least sixteen shieling huts is scattered to either side of an unnamed tributary of the Glen Shellesder Burn, extending across an area measuring 155m from E to W by 80m transversely. Most are to be found below rocky crags, built from stone quarried locally, and all but one stands to the N above the footpath that runs along the N side of the glen. The huts range in shape and size, three are rectangular, six are subrectangular and seven are oval, and many have adjoining cells. The huts are described roughly from W to E.

NG 33876 01753 This hut stands immediately above the footpath. Aligned E and W, it is oval on plan within dry stone walls standing up to 0.9m at the E end. On the N side, the ground rises and provides access into a small adjoining cell. The N wall of the cell stands 1m in height over five courses.

NG 33912 01758 Rectangular on plan, this hut is situated on the edge of a terrace above the footpath. It is aligned NW and SE and has an entrance on the NE side. The sides bow inwards, and its dry stone walls stand up to 1m in height on the SW.

NG 33918 01764 This hut is heavily overgrown with walls no more than 0.6m high.

NG 33919 01771 Subrectangular on plan, the walls of this hut have been robbed to build a small pen inserted into its E end.

NG 33928 01743 This rectangular hut is the southernmost of the group and is the only one below the footpath. It comprises two compartments and has dry stone walls no more than 0.4m high. It is now heavily overgrown.

NG 33959 01776 The remains of this large subrectangular hut are situated on a shelf below a rocky crag. Now overgrown and tumbled, it has a cell attached to its E end.

NG 33976 01803 Aligned N and S, this large rectangular hut has an entrance in its E side. Its walls are 0.7m high over four courses.

NG 33974 01817 The remains of this grass grown subrectangular hut are aligned roughly E and W. It has an entrance in its S side, and its dry stone walls are up to 0.8m high.

NG 33985 01803 This small hut is situated to the E of the unnamed tributary. A square pen has been built into its SW corner.

NG 34000 01802 This large oval hut stands at the base of outcrop amongst fallen boulders. Though tumbled in places, the walls still stand up to 1m in height. The entrance is located on the W. At the E end, a step leads up into an elongated two compartment cell. Above to the N, there is another small cell.

NG 34006 01795 This large subrectangular hut has an entrance in its W end, and part of its N, upslope, side is formed by large boulders up to 0.6m high. Immediately upslope to the NW, there is a small, well-preserved cell, opening to the SW, though there does not appear to have been direct communication between the cell and the hut itself. The walls of this cell stand 1.2m high and are still partly corbelled. The footings of a small cell or pen are visible to the E, above and to the N of the hut. An arc of wall to the SE appears to be all that survives of an earlier hut.

NG 34003 01789 Entered from the SE, this hut appears to be more subcircular than oval on plan. Its walls stand up to 1.5m in height, and a creep on the W provides access into a small adjoining cell. The inner face of another possible cell can be traced immediately above the entrance to the N.

NG 34013 01786 This small oval hut is entered from the SSW and has drystone walls standing no more than 0.7m in height. The footings of a small cell, possibly embanked with turf, are situated immediately to the SE.

NG 34023 01790 A small ruinous hut, oval on plan, is set into the slope below the crags.

NG 34033 01787 This subrectangular hut has an entrance at its W end and drystone walls up to 0.5m in height.

NG 34014 01827 This large oval hut has been built amongst stone debris at the base of an outcrop. It is aligned E and W, and its N wall is little more than a 0.6m high revetment built against scree and fallen boulders. Its S wall stands up to 1m in height. The entrance is on the W, and at the E end, a lintelled creep leads into a small adjoining cell. To the N below the outcrop, the voids beneath the boulders appear to have been cut off with the insertion of very crude stretches of walling. What may be the fragmentary remains of another hut lie a short distance to the W.

Recorded by RCAHMS (ARG, SDB) August 2011.

RCAHMS surveyed the shieling huts at Glen Shellesder, Rum on 25 August 2011 with plane table and self-reducing alidade at a scale of 1:250. The plan was later used as the basis for an illustration published in 2016 at a scale of 1:500 (Hunter, fig. 5.37).