Loch Vatachan

NC01SW 35.01 centred 0108 1088

See also NC01SW 24.

There are four hut-circles terraced into the bracken- and heather-covered hillside above the W shore of Loch Vatachan. They are situated between the 45m and 70m contours, disposed in a rough arc about 450m long.

The northernmost hut (ACHIL94 452) stands on the N bank of the Allt Braigh an' t Stratha at NC 0103 1116. It measures 9.3m ESE-WNW by 7.3m within a faced bank 0.5m high and spread to a thickness of 1.6m. Some inner facing-stones survive, particularly on the uphill side.

The second hut is stands on slightly lower ground about 300m to the SSE of the first (ACHIL94 448, NC 0108 1088). The wall does not survive on the SE (downhill) side but it appears to have measured about 10.5m in diameter over a bank now spread to 1.5m in thickness. Inner facing-stones survive on the NW, where the hut has been set into the slope.

There is a much smaller hut-circle about 30m to the SW of the second hut (ACHIL94 447; NC 0106 1085), measuring only 4.8m in diameter within a bank 0.6m high which has spread to 1.2m in thickness. Again, occasional facings survive on the uphill (NW) side.

The final hut-circle, another 150m to the SW at NC 0094 1078 (ACHIL94 419) is oval on plan, measuring 9.2m N-S by 7.9m transversely between crests of a stony bank with an entrance on the SE side.

On the slopes between these hut-circles, particularly around the northernmost one (ACHIL94 452), there are disjointed fragments of bank and a dozen small cairns, which may be the last vestiges of a field-system comparable to that around the hut-circles a short distance to the N, described under NC01SW 24.

(ACHIL94 419, 447-8, 452)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB), 10 August 1994.