Tighnabruich

NH53NW 3 5020 3720.

(NH 502 371) Cairns (NR)

OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1906(

Centred at NH 502 372, on a SE-facing slope, is a settlement of four circular stone-walled huts ('A' to 'D') three enclosures ('E' to 'G') and a contemporary field system (see enlargement at 1/1250).

Hut diameters are given between wall centres.

Hut 'A' is c. 7.5m in diameter with the wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. The 'simple' entrance, c. 1.2m wide, is in the ENE. The wall is mutilated to the N of the entrance.

'B' measures c. 14.0m in diameter with the wall spread to c. 3.0m. The rear of the hut is destroyed by a wall which is contemporary with the field system. The 'simple' entrance, c. 2.2m wide, in the E, is flanked on its S side by an earth-fast stone.

'C' measures c. 11.0m in diameter with the wall spread to c. 2.5m all round. At one point in the S a widening in the wall to c. 3.5m is probably due to build up. The 'simple' entrance, c. 1.8m wide, is in the SE.

'D' measures c. 14.0m in diameter with the wall spread to c. 3.5m at the N side of the entrance and c. 2.5m elsewhere. The wall is destroyed in the SW arc. The 'simple' entrance in the SE is c. 1.4m wide.

Enclosure 'E' is horse-shoe shaped with the open side to the E and is defined by a wall spread to c. 2.0m. It measures c. 12.5m N to S between wall centres. It is possible that it represents a mutilated hut but there is no trace of walling in the E arc. A stony ridge, c. 2.5m long, in the SE, is probably a mutilated clearance heap.

'F' measures internally c. 5.0m E to W by c. 3.0m transversely. Its N side is a field wall and its W and S sides a horn-like projection which is c. 2.0m wide where it springs from the field wall, increasing to c. 4.0m at its E end. A gap in the E, c. 3.0m wide, is partly blocked by a stone clearance heap.

'G' is c. 10.0m in diameter and is formed by a field wall in the N and two lynchets in the SW and SE. Its purpose is obscure.

The field system is overlaid in the NW by afforestation but elsewhere is well preserved and consists of walls, lynchets and stone clearance heaps. Cultivation plots vary in size from about 20m by 10m. to about 50m by 60m. At one point are a number of faint straight ditches (Z on plan) forming elongated plots which may be later as at least one of the ditches cuts through a lynchet.

Surveyed at 1/2500. 1/1250 survey in archives

Visited by OS (R L) 28 August 1969

NH 502 375 (centre) A walkover survey was conducted of an area of woodland prior to felling, the site lying close to a group of hut circles (NH53NW 3). The following sites were found:

NH 5017 3758 ?Clearance cairn.

NH 4994 3751 OS trig point.

NH 5018 3742 ?Clearance cairn.

NH 5027 3740 Enclosure.

NH 5023 3739 ?Clearance cairn.

NH 5026 3745 Hut circle.

NH 5025 3747 Clearance cairn.

NH 5025 3746 ?Clearance cairn.

NH 5022 3744 Clearance cairn.

NH 5026 3750 Clearance cairn.

Full report deposited in Highland SMR and the NMRS.

Sponsor: Forest Enterprise.

S Farrell 2002