Inverness Airport Access Road

NH75SE 65 766 510 and centred 762 514

See also NH75SE 31.00.

Three mounds at Cnoc an-t-Sidhean may have been used in prehistoric times. Ten evaluation trenches, 50m long, were located over two mounds along the proposed route of the new road in July 2004. The third mound was slightly outside the proposed road corridor. The trenches revealed that the mounds were natural. Two pits cut into the natural contained modern finds. A deposit of charcoal appeared to represent a simple hearth of uncertain date, cut into natural. A sample of the charcoal from the hearth is to be dated.

The site of a row of late 18th-century crofts was partly in forestry and partly in an adjacent field. Evaluation in the field failed to find evidence of the crofts. Only a dump of field cobbles containing modern glass and pottery was found. In the wooded area, the site of one previously recorded croft was further investigated. This revealed walls, a cobbled floor, and 19th-century pottery and window glass. After clearing bracken no further remains of the row of crofts was found within the wood.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Halcrow Group Ltd.

R Cachart 2004.

SUAT Ltd was commissioned by Halcrow Group Ltd to undertake a watching brief on groundworks for the Inverness Airport access road (approximately 2km of new road). The watching brief followed on from an evaluation in July 2004, carried out on mounds at Cnoc an t-Sidhean and on the site of the 18th century crofts.

The watching brief was undertaken in June/July 2005. Seven areas that were considered to be archaeologically sensitive were stripped by mechanical excavator under archaeological supervision while the remainder of the site was stripped by bulldozer. No further significant archaeological evidance was found at Cnoc an t-Sidean or the 18th century croft site. Shallow drainage ditches, plough scarring, pit features, field clearance mounds and part of a dyke were observed and recorded elsewhere over the site. These features contained no easily datable finds and were not considered of great archaeological significance. No further archaeological work will be required on this site.

R Cachart 2005.