Burn Of Badanseanach

A small subrectangular is structure is depicted on the 1st and 2nd editions of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps of Aberdeenshire, published in 1869 and 1902 respectively. Situated on the eastern bank of the Burn of Badanseanach, about 400m from its source, it is not clear what function it served.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

NJ30NE 71 3979 0686 and NJ 3982 0679

(Location formerly cited as NJ 3979 0687 and NJ 3982 0679: amended to NJ 3979 0686 and NJ 3982 0679). These two structures, one of which is probably a still and the other a simple hut, are situated high up on the N flank of Creag an Eoin, in the rocky gully of the Burn of Badanseaneach.

The probable still (NJ 3982 0679) has been set into the foot of a steep W-facing slope and spans a narrow tributary about 60m E of the burn. It measures 4m from N to S by up to 2.5m transversely within walls 1m in thickness and up to 1.5m in height, that on the E side being little more than a low revetment at the foot of the steep natural slope. The entrance is in the centre of the W side, but in the N side, close to the SW corner, there is another opening set about 1m above the level of the interior. This opening, which measures about 300mm square, has probably allowed water to be carried into the building from the stream to the S. The natural course of this stream meanders along the W side of a boggy hollow, but a drain cut into the centre of the hollow approaches the opening in a straight line some 23m long. However, about 2m from the still the drain appears to rejoin the natural course of the stream, which drops abruptly and flows under the W wall of the still to emerge amongst a scatter of large boulders immediately to the N. The gap some 2m broad between S wall of the still and the junction of the drain and the stream is likely to have been spanned by a wooden pipe or chute.

The hut (NJ 3979 0686) is situated 70m NNW of the still, on the E bank of the Burn of Badanseaneach. It measures about 5m from NE to SW by 1.5m transversely within a stone wall that has been largely reduced to a spread of tumbled stones. There is an entrance midway along the NW side and the interior has been dug into the slope on the SE to a depth of at least 1m.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 19 November 2002.