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Clunas Reservoir
Field System (Period Unknown), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Clunas Reservoir
Classification Field System (Period Unknown), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Glac Diollaid; Caochan Glac Diollaid
Canmore ID 15000
Site Number NH84NE 13
NGR NH 8493 4550
NGR Description NH 8493 4550 and NH 8499 4556
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/15000
- Council Highland
- Parish Cawdor
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Nairn
- Former County Nairn
NH84NE 13 850 455
(A: NH 8493 4550; B: NH 8499 4556) Hut Circles (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, 1978.
See also NH84NE 25.
Centred at NH 849 455 are two circular, stone-walled huts and a contemporary field system.
Hut 'A', set into the end of a spur, is visible as a platform, about 10.0m in diameter, with traces of walling round the rim. The entrance is not evident.
'B' is about 12.5m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to about 3.0m. The SE arc is almost completely destroyed and the entrance is not apparent.
The field system, marked by stone clearance heaps and lynchets, is greatly obscured by peat and deep heather and no plots could be identified.
To the N and NE of the huts are two depopulated buildings with contemporary cultivations.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (R L) 11 January 1971.
Field Visit (April 1978)
Glac Diollaid NH c. 849 455 NH84NW
A group of small cairns is visible on each side of a small stream. Two hut-circles were recorded by the OS in 1971 but only one can now be seen. (The extent of the field system noted by OS [RL] only fell on the NW side of the Caochan Glac Diollaid, presumably the small stream referred to above.)
RCAHMS 1978, visited April 1978
OS Record Card NH 84 NE 13
Field Walking (10 January 2011 - 23 February 2011)
NH 8486 4604 (centred on) A walkover survey was carried out 10 January–23 February 2011 ahead of proposed tree planting at Gleneoullie. Extensive areas of Bronze Age / Iron Age field clearance were overlaid by medieval or post-medieval peat cuttings. On the western end of Carn Mor, within a fenced enclosure, the footings of two post-medieval houses were surrounded by rig and furrow. These appear to also overlie evidence of Bronze Age/Iron Age farming activity. Three buildings were recorded just outside the survey area at NH 850 468, NH 8477 5651 and NH 845 464. The following sites were recorded in the survey area:
NH 8396 4620 Buildings and quarry pit; NH 8461 4618 (centred on) field clearance cairns; NH 84620 45670 kerbed cairn; NH 84490 45840 hut circles and field systems; NH 849 455 (centred on) Bronze Age/Iron Age features overlain by houses; NH 849 455 (centred on) hut circles and field systems; NH 840 454 house; NH 85010 45640 house; NH 84940 45560 house and NH 854 461 (centred on) field cairns.
The northern slopes of the two hills are apparently clear of archaeological features, but the flatter top of Carn Mor and the E side of Creag Daimh are not. The longhouse and extensive rig and furrow fields on Carn Mor (NH 849 455) are interesting, as this is an exposed hilltop location nearly 260m above sea level. The rig and furrow must have been in use over quite a long period, as in some places the ridges have merged into wider strips. It was not possible to clarify the full extent of the rig and furrow, which extended into the surrounding heather, but there appear to be indications of Bronze/Iron Age hut circles and field clearance cairns underlying it. As the hilltop has a large number of archaeological features it has been recommended that the area should be cleared of heather, the features marked and protected by 5–10m buffer zones, and the area planted with native broadleaved woodland.
Another area of Bronze Age/Iron Age fields lies on the E slopes of Creag an Daimh. The heather in the area has been burnt, which made it easier to determine the extent of the features. It has been recommended that these features should be marked and protected during planting of broadleaved woodland. The footings of several medieval or post-medieval buildings, recorded on lower ground towards the burn, should be protected with by a buffer zone of 20m during the planting of conifers.
Archive: Highland HER and RCAHMS
Sponsor: Cawdor Forestry
Highland Archaeology Services 2011
