Buntait

Hut Circles,Buntail.

On the rather marshy moorland between Upperton and Buntail, N of the road between the farms, are 3 hut circles as well as numerous small cairns. The land slopes very gently to SE and is rather boggy. On the other side of the road are cultivated fields and ruins of old steadings, and field walls extend across it into what is now heather-clad moor. The circles are defined by the usual heather-clad banks in which large stones can be felt, interrupted by gaps 6’ wide on the ESE. Two measure 33’ from crest to crest while the third is 37’ x 33’.

Visited by RCAHMS (VGC) 16 September 1943.

Map ref: xxviii (Unnoted)

NH33SE 10 3967 3108

Centred at NH 397 311 and separated from NH 33 SE 1 by an area of marshy ground are three stone-walled huts (A-C) and a contemporary field system. The huts measure from 12.0m to 13.0m in diameter between wall centres each with a simple entrance, about 1.5m wide, in the SE arc. The wall of each is spread to about 3.0m increasing to about 5.0m at the W side of the entrance. Within hut B just inside the entrance and lying against the wall, are two clearance heaps.

50.0m WNW of 'B' is a sub-circular level area, about 10.0m NE-SW by 8.0m which is bounded on the SW by a stony built up, and in the NE by three clearance heaps. Not a hut.

The field system comprises lynchets and stone clearance heaps forming cultivation plots, measuring about 40.0m by 20.0m average size. Two later, rectangular buildings occur on the SW side of the field system.

Huts surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (I S S) 20 March 1973

There are three hut-circles, a building, banks, an oval enclosure and some small cairns on a low ridge of improved grassland about 500m E of Upperton Farm. The hut-circles range in diameter from 9.8m to 10.4m within stony banks about 2.5m in thickness and between 0.35m and 0.5m in height. They have entrances on the SE, and in two cases the terminal of the bank on the S side of the entrance expands in thickness to about 4m (URQ97 408, 410). The building is much reduced and measures 10.9m from ENE to WSW by 6.2m transversely over stony banks 1.4m in thickness and up to 0.3m in height (URQ97 468). The small cairns cover an area of about 2ha of pasture between the northernmost hut-circle (NH 3970 3114, URQ97 410) and a track that runs along the S edge of the site, some 200m to the SW. The oval enclosure (NH 3961 3109), which is defined by a low stony bank, has a small cairn on its NE arc, and may be coeval with this phase of clearance.

(URQ97 408-410, 468)

Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 9 September and 8 October 1997

A project of archaeological survey and evaluation was undertaken for Team Aquarius, on behalf of NOSWA by Headland Archaeology in advance of a water mains pipeline along Glen Urquhart, Highland. The proposed route runs from Tomich (NH 314 277) north to Cannich (NH 334 318) and then east towards Drumnadrochit where it splits to the north (NH 502 332) and south (NH 498 283). The proposed route is largely along the roadside but four stretches are through farmland or forestry. The survey comprised an initial desk based assessment to examine all available documentary and map sources prior to commencement of fieldwork, a walkover survey of the entire route and a watching brief on six trial pits highlighted as being in archaeologically sensitive areas by Highland Council’s Planning and Development Department Archaeological Officer. A full specification for the archaeological work was prepared by Highland Council.

Headland Archaeology 2001