Glen Shiel

NG91NE 1 9518 1692

NG 9518 1692 Erd House (OE) (Site of)

OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1905)

A sloping passage, 26' long, running from the bottom to the top of a gravel hillock was discovered about 1823 (Name Book 1874) by workmen digging for road gravel.

The floor was paved, and the walls were constructed of small, carefully laid flat-stones (G Anderson 1834) or lined with large flag-stones (OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., [1905]), and it was roofed with long slabs resting on strong stone cross-rafters.

In entering it is necessary to crawl on all fours, but it quickly rises to a height of eight feet, and becomes broad enough to admit the advance of two people abreast (OS 6"map, [1905]) MacRae (NSA [Rev J MacRae] 1845), presumably referring to the narrow entrance, describes it as 5' high and 2' 3" wide.

In 1874 the OS surveyor reported that nothing remained, but Wallace (T Wallace 1897), in 1897 stated that the position could still be pointed out, but that the entrance had been closed up for years - implying that the structure was still intact. It was the Name Book examiner who deduced that this was an earth-house, likening it to the 'subterranean Pict's Houses' of the Orkneys.

G Anderson 1834; New Statistical Account (NSA, Rev J MacRae) 1845; Name Book 1874; T Wallace 1897.

No trace and no local knowledge of this feature was found although the gravel pit is still visible. From the description and the topography the deduction that this is an earth-house is probably correct.

Visited by OS (NKB) 28 September 1966.