Balbeg

NH43SE 44.00 centred on 4547 3254

NH43SE 44.01 from 4562 3259 to 4555 3272 Shooting Butts

On heather moorland to the N of Balbeg there are eight hut-circles and two round-ended buildings. They stand amongst dense scatters of small cairns and the fragmentary remains of a field-system, which extends across a ridge of undulating ground measuring 1km from ENE to WSW by 450m transversely, bounded on the NW by the Allt Leiter an Lochain, a tributary of the Allt a' Bhaile Uachdaraich, and on the SE by low boggy ground. Within the area there are also ruined shooting butts (NH43SE 44.01) and a memorial cairn (NH43SE 66). The deep heather cover across this area doubtless conceals other structures.

The hut-circles are described here from W to E.

1 This hut-circle (URQ97 249; NH 4518 3237) stands immediately W of a modern trackway, above the E bank of the Allt a' Bhaile Uachdaraich. It measures about 9.5m in internal diameter, but only the SW half of the wall survives, reduced to a stony bank 0.3m high and 1.5m thick. The interior forms a shallow platform dug into the slope on the NE, and two small cairns stand on the line of the wall on the NE.

2 This hut-circle (URQ97 248; NH 4520 3235), which stands across the trackway from hut-circle no.1, is markedly oval on plan, measuring 8.1m from NW to SE by 5.5m transversely within a stony bank 0.3m high and 1.5m thick. Possible facing stones are visible on the SE arc, and one on the N arc. There is also a possible entrance on the S.

3 Standing on the edge of a terrace, and on the S side of a trackway, this hut-circle (URQ97 256; NH 4529 3231) measures 4.2m within a stony bank 0.3m high and 1.6m thick. The entrance is on the SSW.

4 About 250m NE of hut-circle no. 1 (URQ97 249) there is a hut-circle (URQ97 252; NH 4532 3257) measuring 7.5m in diameter within a stony bank 1.5m thick and up to 0.25m high. The W arc of the wall is well defined, but the E has suffered from robbing. A gap in the wall on the S may mark the original entrance.

5 This hut-circle (URQ97 246; NH 4547 3254), also situated at the edge of a terrace, has been much reduced by later rig cultivation. It measures 10.5m from ESE to WNW by 9m transversely within a stony bank 0.2m in height and spread to 3m in thickness. A gap on the ESE may indicate the position of the entrance.

6 This hut-circle (URQ97 245; NH 4559 3242), again situated on the edge of a terrace, measures 13.5m overall. Several outer facing stones are visible, most of them on the N and W, but the inner face could not be traced in deep heather. The entrance is not visible.

7 (URQ97 253; NH 4564 3266) The remains of this hut-circle measure 11m in diameter over a wall reduced to a stony bank 2m thick and 0.2m high.

8 (URQ97 255; NH 4593 3248) This hut-circle stands on the SE side of a low knoll. It measures 8.6m in diameter within a stony bank up to 2m thick and 0.2m high. On the NW, where the interior has been dug into the side of the knoll, the wall is reduced to a scarp 0.5m high. The entrance is on the SSE. Later rig cultivation runs through the interior and there is a circular setting of stones, apparently modern, at the centre.

The round-ended buildings are situated at NH 4527 3252 (URQ97 251) and NH 4571 3269 (URQ97 254). The first measures 12.2m from NNW to SSE by 6.1m transversely within stony banks 1.6m thick and 0.2m high. Although the NNW end is rounded, the SSE end is straighter. A gap at the N end of the ESE wall probably marks the entrance. The other building measures 9.8m from N to S by 5.2m within stony banks 2m thick and 0.3m high. The E side and the SE corner have been robbed and no entrance is apparent. Banks immediately to the SE may be the remains of another structure, though they may equally be debris from the robbing or from the construction of an adjacent trackway.

Around the hut-circles and buildings there are numerous lengths of bank and traces of lynchets. These do not resolve into a coherent pattern, though there can be little doubt that other features are concealed by the heather and peat. At least 220 small cairns were recorded across the area, most of them concentrated in seven groups situated on patches of drier ground, and there are two small areas of rig cultivation, one overlying hut-circle no.5 (see above), the other overlying hut-circle no.8 (URQ97 255). The rigs are defined by shallow grooved furrows and measure from 2.4m to 4m in breadth. It is likely that further cairns and areas of rig are also concealed by the vegetation.

Finally, there are ten turf-built shooting butts amongst the small cairns towards the N end of the area (URQ97 243-4), and an eleventh isolated on top of a knoll immediately NW of hut-circle no.8 (URQ97 255). Eight of the butts are set in a line which runs NNW from NH 4562 3259 for 150m to NH 4555 3272, where it turns N and continues for a further 75m to NH 4554 3279.

(URQ97 243-6, 248-9, 251-6)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 2 September 1997