Little Swordale
Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Little Swordale
Classification Settlement (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 14031
Site Number NH69SW 41
NGR NH 6258 9014
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/14031
- Council Highland
- Parish Creich (Sutherland)
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NH69SW 41 6258 9014
(NH 6258 9014) Enclosure (NR)
OS 25" map, (1967)
Within a wood is a hut circle of unusual type, formed of two circles, one within the other, but not concentric.
The ruined stone wall of the inner circle is 8' wide with no wall faces visible. No details survive of the entrance in the ESE. Within the hut is a stone-built circular foundation, 6' - 7' in diameter with an entrance from the SW.
The tumbled stone wall of the outer circle, 13' - 14' across and c. 2' high, rests on the inner circle in the ESE, and is some 19' distant in the WNW, where there is an entrance 8' wide. For some 40' along the circumference on either side of the entrance to the inner circle, the solid character of the wall changes to a single line of contiguous stones, set on end and 1' - 2' high. There appear to be flanking walls, c. 6' wide, running for some 45' outwards from the entrance to the inner circle in a NE and SSW direction. There are a few small mounds nearby. One, 40' to the S, is 22' across.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.
A circular stone-walled hut, measuring 14.0m in diameter between wall centres, within an outer wall, as described and planned by the RCAHMS, and similar to hut 'G' (on NH69SW 5) and Carn an Duin (NH69SW 24). The "circular foundation" within it is overgrown, but is probably due to later mutilation. The single line of stones, some 2.0m outside the entrance in the ESE is almost certainly the outer face of the outer wall. The flanking walls running NE and SSW from the entrance are too obscured to establish their nature and function.
Only two stone clearance heaps, described by the RCAHMS as "mounds", were seen in the wooded vicinity of the hut.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (W D J), 27 May 1963 and (N K B) 20 October 1969.
No change
Visited by OS (J B), 9 September 1980.
Field Visit (27 July 1909)
63. Swordale, Bonar Bridge.
Some 400 yards W. of Little Swordale, within the wood near the SW. point of a portion of the. cultivated land which projects to the SW., is a hut circle of unusual character. It is formed of two circles, one within the other, but not concentric, the inner circle resting on the outer towards the ESE and being some 19' distant from it at the WNW. Within this inner circle, and somewhat to the SE. of the centre, is a small circular foundation with ruined walls and a diameter over all of from 6' to 7', having an entrance from the SW. The wall of the inner circle has been composed entirely of stone, and is now a structureless mass 8' across. The entrance to the interior has been from the ESK, but the details are obscured by the ruins of the walls. The wall or bank of the outer circle is also entirely of stone, and in its present condition shows no sign of building; it is 13' to 14' across, and about 2' high. There is an entrance through it from the WNW. about 8' in width. For some 40' along the circumference on either side of the entrance to the inner circle the solid character of the outer wall or bank changes to a single line of contiguous stones set on end and from 1' to 2' high. There appear to be flanking walls running for some 45' outwards NE. and SSW. on both sides of the entrance to the inner circle, that on the SSW. being at its extremity some 12' distant from the outer circumference, and that on the NE. 22' distant. They appear to have been about 6' wide. Owing to the ruined state of the structure and the under growth of brackens and birch trees, the plan cannot be regarded as absolutely accurate, though drawn to scale as far as possible (fig. 8 [SC 1665056]).
There are a few small mounds lying near. One to the S., about 40' distant, measures 22' across, and is composed of large stones uncovered with soil.
OS 6-inch map: Sutherland Sheet cxi. (unnoted).
RCAHMS 1911, visited (AOC) 27th July 1909.
