Balvattan

NH90NW 1 centred 915 089.

Centred at NH 915 089 on the E and NE slopes of the hill of Tullochgrue, is a settlement of 12 huts in two groups ('A'-'D' and 'M', and 'E'-'L'), and an associated field system.

The huts are poorly-defined by stone-walls, spread to a regular width of c 2.5m to c 3.0m, and surviving to a height of c 0.2m. No wall faces are visible and the entrances, where evident, are ill-defined.

Huts 'D' and 'M' are oval, the remainder are circular. All hut diameters are measured between wall centres.

Hut 'A', measuring c 11.0m in diameter, is so mutilated that the wall thickness, and details of the entrance, which was probably in the SE where there is a gap, are not evident.

'B', set into a slope, measures c 11.0m in diameter. No entrance is evident. The E arc is mutilated.

'C', the best preserved, measures c 16.0m in diameter. Extending N from the entrance in the NNE, is a low wall, probably a windbreak.

'D' is set into a N-S slope, and measures c 15.0m E-W through the entrance in the E, by c 13.0m. A clearance heap lies against the SW wall. It has been excavated and material from it now overlies the wall. 'E', set into the slope, measures c 9.5m in diameter. The entrance is not evident.

'F', set into the slope, measures c 12.0m in diameter, with an entrance in the S, between the excavated and built-up areas of the hut.

'G' measures c 13.0m in diameter. The SE arc is mutilated and the entrance is not evident.

'H' measures c 15.0m in diameter. It is mutilated in the SE, and the entrance is not evident.

'J', set into the slope, measures c 10.0m in diameter. The entrance is not evident. A boulder is set in the S arc.

'K', on a level shelf, measures c 12.5m in diameter. The mutilated entrance is in the SE.

'L' on the same shelf, measures c 10.0m in diameter, with an entrance in the SE flanked on its SW side by a boulder.

'M' is in a hollow and measures c 13.0m E-W by c 11.5m. The entrance is not evident.

The field system is marked by clearance heaps (noted as pairs of cairns by C G Cash 1910), which are occasionally joined by rickles of stones. The average plot measures c 25.0m by c 20.0m.

Huts surveyed at 1/10,000.

Visited by OS (I S S) 18 April 1973.

C G Cash 1910.

Fieldwork in this area by Dr T C Welsh has revealed a variety of archaeological features.

T C Welsh 1993.

NMRS, MS/737/2.

Scheduled as Balvattan, settlement and field system, Rothiemurchus.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 9 November 2000.

NH 917 090 A programme of archaeological survey works was carried out in February 2005 in respect of the proposed renewal of a pipeline. Some 31 rubble cairns, three roundhouses and occasional short stretches of stone dyke were located. The majority of these are thought to represent a prehistoric landscape; the features located comprise only those components of the Scheduled Ancient Monument (NH90NW 1) that lie in close proximity to the existing water pipeline.

Report to be lodged with Highland SMR.

Sponsor: Jacobs Babtie for Scottish Water Solutions.

T Rees 2005