Loch Vatachan

NC01SW 34 0125 1150

On the heather-and-grass covered E-facing slopes overlooking the N end of Loch Vatachan there are four hut-circles standing amidst the remains of a field-system consisting of scatters of small cairns and stretches of bank. The most southerly hut-circle (ACHIL94 454; NC 0129 1138) stands on a gentle ESE-facing slope. It measures 8m in diameter within a wall 1m thick and 0.3m high. Occasional inner and outer facing-stones survive and the wall thickens slightly at the entrance, which is on the SE.

The other three hut-circles are located on steeper slopes, and they are all levelled into the hillside along their rear edge and built up at the front; all three are also oval in plan, with the longer axis running parallel to the contour.

The first of these huts is situated about 120m NNW of the first hut-circle, at NC 0125 1150 (ACHIL94 455). It measures 6.5m N-S by 5.9m transversely within a stony bank 0.3m high and spread to a thickness of 1m. The entrance is on the N.

About 90m to the NW there is a hut-circle measuring 9.4m N-S by 7.9m E-W within a stony bank 0.5m high which has spread to 1.3m in thickness (ACHIL94 456; NC 0119 1157).

The final hut is 240m farther N at NC 0121 1181 (ACHIL94 457). It measures 7m NNW-SSE by 6.2m transversely within a massive wall in which edge-set inner and outer facing-stones survive, giving a thickness of 1.6m. The entrance may have been on the SE.

Around these hut-circles, in an area measuring about 500m N-S by 150m E-W there are a number of stony banks and lynchets which appear to have formed a series of subrectangular fields. Within these there are scatters of small cairns, about 35 in all, concentrated particularly at the S end of the area, between hut-circles ACHIL94 454 and ACHIL94 455.

(ACHIL94 454-7)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 10 August 1994