West Tayloch

NJ52NW 110 5244 2805 and 5247 2793

At least two hut-circles, a group of small clearance cairns, and several short stretches of boulder wall are visible in a rocky area of unimproved ground to the W and SW of West Tayloch Farm (NJ52NW 157). Much of the area is obscured by dense gorse thickets, and it is also strewn with large boulders. The southernmost hut-circle (NJ 5247 2793), which is the best preserved, measures 11.4m in diameter over a stony bank. Its interior has been dug into the slope on the E to a depth of 1m, and levelled up with the upcast on the downslope side to the W. Short lengths of stony bank extend away from the hut-circle closely to the NNW and E, and a clearance cairn, measuring about 7m in diameter, lies about 10m to the N. One of the stony banks overlies a possible house-platform some 15m to the NW; all that is visible is a low, arc of scarp at the rear.

The northern hut-circle (NJ 5247 2793) is situated on a steep, W-facing slope 120m NNW of the first. It measures 11.4m in internal diameter and the interior has been dug into the slope on the E to a depth of about 0.6m, the upcast forming a terrace about 1m high on the W. All that can be seen of the wall on the E are the remains of the inner face revetting the backscarp, but on the N it measures up to 1.9m in thickness and 0.3m in height, while elsewhere it continues around the lip of the platform as a stony bank. The whole hut-circle has been badly disturbed by rabbits. An L-shaped length of stony bank on the N side of the interior may be all that now survives of a small rectangular building set end-on into the slope and measuring at least 6m from E to W by 2.5m transversely overall. About 5m S of the hut-circle there is a short, detached length of grass-grown stone wall measuring 1.3m in thickness and 0.2m in height

A group of six cairns, the largest measuring 4m in diameter, and two short lengths of narrow wall are situated about 95m NE of the second hut-circle.

Visited by RCAHMS (ARG, IF), 22 April 1996.