Dallasbraughty
Cairn (Prehistoric), Field System (Prehistoric), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Dallasbraughty
Classification Cairn (Prehistoric), Field System (Prehistoric), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 15741
Site Number NJ04NW 1
NGR NJ 0334 4681
NGR Description NJ 033 464 to NJ 035 469
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/15741
- Council Moray
- Parish Edinkillie (Moray)
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Morayshire
NJ04NW 1 033 464 to 035 469
See also NJ04NW 3 and NJ04NW 14.
(Centred NJ 033 464) Cairns (NR) (site of)
(Centred NJ 035 469) Cairns (NR) (Site of)
(NJ 0333 5681) Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map, Morayshire, 2nd ed., (1906).
These cairns are probably the result of field clearance during manual cultivation. One certain hut circle, diameter 15ft.; can be identified in association.
The cairns on the lower ground, although heavily overgrown, are well preserved. Those on the higher slopes have been ploughed down and now appear as slightly raised grassy spots.
A Graham 1959.
At NJ 0334 4681 are two stone-walled huts (A and B) and at NJ 0329 4636 are traces of another (C). They are on a generally S-facing slope within a contemporary field system.
Each hut is circular and the measurements are given between wall centres Hut 'A', published as "cairn" on OS 6", measures about 11.5m in diameter with the wall spread to about 3.5m all round. The entrance in the E is ill-defined.
The hut was excavated in the summers of 1969 and 1970 by Mr J Watson, (Information from James Watson, 40 Spruce Grove, Craigshill East, Livingston, West Lothian). Two rectangular areas within the hut, covering much of the interior, have been dug but nothing is exposed now. A trench has been cut through the wall in the SE revealing two contiguous outer facing stones, the rubble core but no inner facing stones. The wall has been at least 2.0m thick at this point.
'B' is denuded measuring about 8.5m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to an indeterminate width. The NE arc is mutilated and the entrance is not evident.
'C', measures about 7.5m in diameter between the centres of an indistinct wall spread to an indeterminate width. The entrance is not apparent. The field system, marked by stone clearance heaps, lynchets and occasional field walls, is partly covered by whins and has been cut into two separate parts by modern cultivation. Two plots measuring respectively about 40.0m by 15.0m and about 35.0m by 20.0m were identified.
At NJ 0325 4636, about 50.0m SSW of hut 'C' is a turf and whin covered mound of stones about 9.5m in diameter and about 1.0m in height. The top has been disturbed but not deep enough to expose a cist. Two contiguous earth-fast stones in the SW may be part of a kerb. It is possible that the mound is a stone clearance heap but its large size compared with the clearance heaps of the field system suggest it may be a cairn.
Extent of field system delineated on 6" sheet.
Huts and possible cairn surveyed at 1/2500 scale.(OS field surveyor NKB 25 August 1965).
Visited by OS (RL) 21 April 1971.
Field Visit (26 September 1943)
Small cairns, Stripeside. On a dry gentle slope facing S that descends from the 750’ contour to the road from Stripeside to Dallasbraughty and to the Little Berry Burn is a very large assemblage of thickly-sown small cairns. While the area is now moor it is traversed by stone and turf dykes that do not seem to be very ancient, while elsewhere in the vicinity cultivation extends up to this level. Cf. PSAS, xli, p.171.
Visited by RCAHMS (VGC) 26 September 1943
OS Map: xx.NE (‘Cairns, site of’)
Field Visit (3 July 1991)
NJ04NW 1 033 464 to 035 469
See also NJ04NW 3 and 14.
There are at least three hut-circles and a scatter of small cairns on the SE-facing slopes to the N of Dallasbraughty. Two hut-circles are situated adjacent to each other at the N edge of the improved field (NJ 0334 4681); that to the W (NJ 0336 4682) is gorse-covered and measures 7.5m in diameter within a stony bank spread to 2.6m and 0.4m in height. The entrance may lie to the S where the bank has been mutilated by a drain. The more easterly hut-circle is situated at the edge of dense gorse in improved grassland. It measures 6.4m from NW to SE by 5.6m within a bank spread to 1.4m and no more than 0.3m in height. The entrance is to the NE. The southern-most hut-circle (NJ 0330 4639), 200m NW of Dallasbraughty farm, is little more than a platform measuring 8m in diameter over a fragmentary bank spread to about 1m in breadth and 0.2m in height. A break in the bank to the E may be the entrance.
Small cairns measuring up to 6m in diameter and 0.5m in height are scattered across the hill-side amongst which are a number of lynchets and banks.
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 3 July 1991.
Watching Brief (6 December 2016 - 14 December 2016)
NJ 0410 4724 (Canmore ID: 320932) A watching brief was undertaken, 6–14 December 2016, during groundworks for an underground cable connecting the Hill of Glaschyle Wind Farm to a substation. A single post was located and excavated. A large cairn (left in situ) at the southern end of the cable route and possibly the posthole seem to be the only trace of a previously recorded field system (NJ04NW 0100), which appears to have been destroyed by afforestation. However, the posthole indicates that there is still potential for buried features to survive within the open field.
Archive: Highland HER and NRHE
Funder: SSE
Lynne McKeggie and Emma Malone – Highland Archaeology Services
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
