Rum, Sron An T-saighdeir

NM39NW 5 from 309 986 to 314 991.

(Centred: NM 309 987) Complex of small drystone structures numbering at least seventeen, in a straggling line connected by a drystone wall which runs uphill from the edge of the cliff, crossing the 750' contour line. Most of the structures are circular, averaging 6' in internal diameter, with walls about 2' thick mostly still standing to 3' above present ground level and corbelled inwards in the upper courses.

Foundations of at least three more circular structures are visible on the downhill side of the wall some 10 to 20 yds from it. The interiors of these structures are in most cases masked by a mass of loose flat stones mixed with turf and heather. (Visible on RAF AP's 106G/Scot/UK53: 3052-3)

Source: G C David 1967

A tumbled drystone wall following an irregular course from the cliff edge at approximately NM 3140 9892, NE towards a small loch at NM 3140 9923. Well-defined near the SW end, the wall becomes less well-preserved in intermittent scree slopes as it progresses NE. Towards the NE end two or three walls spring from it and run downhill for 20 or 30m. At irregular intervals along the wall, small dry-stone cells, generally as described by David, are built against it. Others occur at varying distances from the wall. Few of the better-preserved cells show any sign of an entrance. The cells were not counted but estimated to be about 50 in number. Occasionally they are in clusters of three or four, and there are two or three larger irregularly-shaped less upstanding enclosures about 10m in diameter.

The purpose of the wall is to trap deer during a deer cull whilst the cells were for concealment from the animals. The structure is probably medieval. (See the Statistical Account (OSA) for description of "saitts and tainchels".)

Visited by OS (AA) 14 May 1972