Loch A' Chroisg

NH15NW 9 139 586

NH 158 583 to NH 101 585 A programme of archaeological recording was undertaken in May 2002 on a series of features within the corridor of the forthcoming A832 road improvements between Achnasheen and Lubmore. The sites investigated were discovered through desk-based assessment and reconnaissance field survey undertaken in 2001 (DES 2001, 51-2).

Medieval or later field boundaries (including NH15NW 6), plantation ditches and an estate wall were recorded by survey, planning and sample sections exposed by hand excavation. Enclosure banks, quarry pits and a wall associated with a medieval or later structure (NH 139 586) were recorded and trenched by hand, revealing details of their construction but no indication of the date or chronology of the settlement as a whole. The building lay outside the road corridor and was not examined.

Sample excavation and detailed planning were undertaken of a second turf-walled rectangular structure, which map evidence suggests was occupied into the late 18th/early 19th centuries (NH 140 586). The trenching revealed no evidence of a laid internal floor or features, and evidence for date or function was not forthcoming. Nearby (NH 140 585), three small clearance cairns were excavated, revealing no evidence of formal structure or date. Test pitting across the suspected site of an ironworking bloomery (NH15NW 2) recorded below Lochrosque Lodge in 1886 revealed no trace of the site.

Report deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Highland Council Transport, Environmental & Community Services.

K Cameron 2002