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Skye, Runicaleach
Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Township (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Skye, Runicaleach
Classification Cultivation Remains (Period Unassigned), Township (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 11687
Site Number NG72SE 2
NGR NG 791 231
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11687
- Council Highland
- Parish Strath
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG72SE 2 791 231.
NG 791 231 Runicaleach: shown as township in 1824. (J Thomson's map of Skye 1824)
Visited by OS (A C) 12 January 1961.
Runicaleach, a depopulated township, overlooking the Kyle Rhea, at about 200 feet OD, consists of about 30 ruined houses, 6 small enclosures or garths. There are large areas of lazy-bed cultivation along the hill slopes.
Visited by OS (A S P) 22 June 1961; Visible on RAF air photographs CPE/ SCOT/UK/288 Nos. 4018-9, CPE/SCOT/UK/271 Nos. 4065-6
Measured Survey (22 February 2017 - 24 February 2017)
NG 7910 2310 (centred on) A desk-based assessment, topographic and measured surveys were undertaken, 22–24 February 2017, at the ruins of a post-medieval settlement to the N of Kyle Rhea, in advance of woodland harvesting. The dispersed settlement consists of 25 buildings in 4 groups across open ground and within forest plantation on the SE-facing slopes above the Kyle Rhea.
Runicaleach can be best described as a dispersed settlement, with stone structures spread out across terraces and built between outcrops and stream courses. Other than the size of the buildings, the survey was unable to identify any characteristics within the buildings to distinguish them between houses and byres, bothies or pens. In general, the groups consisted of attached enclosures that joined buildings together, with additional surrounding buildings of
different sizes. The groups probably reflect small holdings for individual families, with the various buildings representing dwellings, byres and workshops.
The extent of settlement at Runicaleach had not been shown on any known historic mapping or documented sources. However, the place name is identified on Thomson’s 1832 map, indicating that settlement existed at that time.
Based on the parish descriptions in the Old and New Statistical Accounts (between 1795 and 1840), most of the lands occupied by tenant farmers had been taken over for sheep farms, leaving only small, over-crowded areas of land to sustain impoverished families. The lack of any indication of the settlement on the 1st Edition OS map suggests that the settlement had been cleared/long abandoned by 1875/6.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Forestry Commission Scotland
Cathy MacIver and Mary Peteranna – AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
