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Rhue
Cairnfield (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Rhue
Classification Cairnfield (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 12134
Site Number NH19NW 2
NGR NH 1055 9688
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/12134
- Council Highland
- Parish Lochbroom
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NH19NW 2 1055 9688
About 50m N of a sharp bend on the road to Rhue, is a hut circle with entrance on the SE. Some upright stones, c 0.1m high, revet the inner and outer faces of the wall. Around the hut-circle are several clearance cairns. Just W of the hut is a smaller circle, and c 0.70m
to the N is another circle.
Information from C E K Scouller, Tigh na Fasileige, Rhue, Ullapool, to Society of Antiquities of Scotland, June 1989
NH 1055 9688 The settlement (NMRS NH19NW 2) extends over 1.5ha, and contains two complete hut circles, fragments of what may have been a third, and over a dozen peat-covered mounds, some of which are almost certainly clearance cairns. The larger hut circle has an internal diameter of c 10m, the smaller c 6m. There was no indication of any enclosure walls.
Fuller details have been lodged with the NMRS.
C Scouller and F Ross 1998
Excavation (March 2012 - October 2012)
NH 1057 9689 Rhue Hut Circle, Ullapool (Wedig 2) This hut circle lies c200m upslope from the road and a more substantial hut circle by the roadside. The site consists of a heather covered ring-bank c10m in overall diameter, with an extended entrance facing to the SE. The surrounding area, although heather covered, showed considerable evidence for cultivation with numerous clearance cairns protruding through the peat.
Trench 1 which was placed just off centre within the structure revealed a large stone slab set directly on the natural subsoil. This slab, which had been levelled with stone wedges, showed no indication of heat and was surrounded and partly covered by a black, occupation horizon.
Trench 2 was placed across a well preserved section of turf bank just to the W of the entrance. Excavations revealing a tumbled stone wall with the inner face surviving 4 courses high. The outer face had tumbled down the slope. The occupation horizon revealed in trench 1 was seen to butt up to the foot of the inner face of the hut wall.
Trench 3 was placed c3m to the W of the site.
Small finds included a maul/working surface from the tumbled wall core, which may indicate the presence of an earlier occupation site in the area.
Website www.wedigs.co.uk (accessed October 2014).
Archive: Inverness archive (intended)
Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund and Highland Council
Anna Welti, Lochbroom Field Club, 2013
(Source: DES)
