Achairn Burn

ND24NE 35 27552 45494, 27536 45528, 27552 45599 & 27588 45634

A dispersed group of four subrectangular shieling-huts is situated on the left bank of the Achairn Burn, some 290m S of the remains of Oult-ruag farmstead (ND34NE 21). The southernmost hut (YARROWS04 791) measures 6m from NE to SW by 3.3m transversely over grass-grown footings up to 0.4m in thickness and 0.5m in height. The interior contains two compartments, which are linked by a narrow gap in the partition wall, and there is an entrance into the NE compartment at the SE end of the NE wall. What may be the remains of an earlier structure are marked by a disturbed area of ground immediately to the NE of the hut.

What is probably a second hut (YARROWS04 792) is situated on a low rise 35m to the NW. It measures about 5.2m from ENE to WSW by 4m transversely over a low, intermittent bank.

The third hut (YARROWS04 794), which is situated on the edge of poorly-drained ground 100m N of the first, measures about 7.1m from NNW to SSE by 3.6m transversely over a wall reduced to a stony bank 1m in thickness and no more than 0.2m in height.

The fourth and northernmost hut (YARROWS04 793) is situated on a low rise about 25m W of the Achairn Burn and 140m NNE of the first hut. It measures 6m from NW to SE by 4m transversely over walls up to 0.55m in thickness and 0.3m in height; the inner face of this wall comprises thin slabs set on edge. The interior contains two compartments, and there is an entrance into the SE compartment at the SE end of its NE wall. What may be the remains of an earlier structure are marked by a disturbed area of ground immediately to the NW

Both the southernmost and northernmost huts are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet XXIX), but none of the huts is shown on the 2nd edition of the map (1907, sheet XXIX).

(YARROWS04 791-794)

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ATW) 8 September 2004