Creag An Sgor

NJ31NE 15 3704 1852 and 3706 1854

See also NJ31NE 81 and NJ31NE 125.

A pair of ring-ditch houses is situated in heather moorland on the lowermost slopes of Creag an Sgor. The NE house measures about 8.6m in diameter within a wall reduced to a thick stony bank, and there is an entrance on the S. On the NW the bank measures up to 2.2m in thickness and 0.4m in height, but where both inner and outer facing-stones are present on the W, the original thickness of the wall is about 1m. A number of outer facing-stones are also visible on the SE. and, In the SW half of the interior, a ditch up to 2.9m in breadth and 0.2m in depth is visible immediately within the line of the wall.

The SW house, which lies 26.5m from the first, measures 7.1m in diameter within a bank up to 2.5m in thickness and 0.2m in height, and there is an entrance on the S. Immediately within the interior a concentric ditch, measuring up to 2.2m in breadth and 0.15m in depth, extends from a point on the NE around the S to a point on the W.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ATW), 14 May 1997.

Scheduled (with NJ31NE 81) as 'Upperton, ring-ditches 735m, 775m, 875m, 995m and 1095m NE of... a group of five ring-ditch gouses... visible as upstanding features strung out along the southern lower slopes of Creag an Sgor. The easternmost house [plotted at NJ 3740 1868] measures 8m in diameter within a stony bank up to 1.5m in thickness within a stony bank up to 1.5m in thickness and 0.3m in height. The next house [plotted at NJ 3725 1869] is 140m W and downslope of the former. It measures 9m in diameter within a wall reduced to a stone bank up to 1.5m in thickness and 0.2m in height. About 125m to the SE [plotted at NJ 3717 1861] is situated the third ring-ditch and about 110m SE from the third house there are a pair of ring-ditches 26m apart. The NE house [plotted at NJ 3707 1854] measures 8.6m in diameter within a wall reduced to a thick stony bank. On the NW the bank measures up to 2.2m in thickness and 0.4m in height, but where both inner and outer facing-stones are present on the W, the original thickness of the wall is 1m. The SW house [plotted at NJ 3704 1851] measures 7.1m in diameter within a bank up tp 2.5m in thickness and 0.2m in height.' [The locations cited are derived from the plan attached to the scheduling document. Historic Scotland appear to recognise a further ring-ditch at NJ 3717 1861, between the pairs recorded as NJ31NE 15 and NJ31NE 81 : this is entered as NJ31NE 125].

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 22 September 2007.