Torran Dubh

NH78SW 1 7139 8431.

(NH 7139 8431) Torran Dubh Three Stone Cists found AD 1866, one contained an Urn, a second Gravel and Sand, Burnt Bones, Human Teeth and part of a Bronze Pin, & a third an Urn and a Cup (NAT)

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

A grave mound about 50 feet in diameter and 6 feet high (NH 7139 8428) was levelled in December 1964. Mr Ritchie (information contained in letter and annotated 25" antiquity model, MoPBW) who saw the site shortly after, reported that a cist set just below the old land surface had been found below the centre of the mound. He believed that this mound was the Torran Dubh within which, in February 1866, three cists were found, despite the authentication of the published site by the Rev J M Joass, in 1874, in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB, 1874).

It is clear that the three cists found in 1866 were secondary burials within the mound as they were at a depth of only three feet. Two of the cists were quite small and both contained urns, one decorated. The third cist was 4 1/2 feet long and tapered from 33 to 18 inches in width. It contained only fragments of burnt bone, charcoal and a bronze pin donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) - DO 18. A sandstone slab with one cup-mark lay on an adjacent knoll. Neither account mentions the 'cup' referred to in the published entry.

J M Joass 1868; Name Book 1874.

No remains of the cists are visible in this area of pasture land. A large mound 30.0m diameter to the SSW, appears to be entirely natural.

Visited by OS (R D L) 20 May 1963.

"Agricultural operations removed a mound about 40-60ft in diameter and 6ft high. One short cist was found centrally just below the old land surface".

S Cruden 1965.