Loch Charles

NO05SE 2 centred 0835 5453

Location formerly entered as NO 083 545.

See also NO05SE 66.

Centred at NO 0835 5453 is a settlement of seven hut circles (A - G) within a small contemporary field system marked by stone clearance heaps and occasional lynchets. All hut diameters are given between wall centres.

'A' and 'B' are tangential, each 11.5m in diameter, with the walls spread to 2.5m. 'A' has traces of an entrance gap in the SSE, but there is no sign of one in 'B'.

'C' is a platform edged by traces of walling and measures c. 9.5m in diameter; it has traces of an entrance in the SE.

'D' is oval, measuring 12.0m NW-SE by 9.5m NE-SW with the peat-obscured wall showing suggestions of an entrance in the SE.

'E', 'F', and 'G' are adjacent huts in a row.

'E' is 9.5m in diameter. The wall is mutilated and has an entrance in the SSW.

'F' is 12.5m in diameter. The wall is stronger than the other two huts and is spread to 4.0m. The entrance is in the S.

'G', 12.0m in diameter, is marked by an ill-defined wall with the entrance in the SSW.

About 30.0m WNW and 40.0m NNW of 'D' are the possible remains of two further hut circles marked respectively by an area of walling suggesting the NE half of a hut about 11.0m in diameter, and by a slight platform c. 7.0m in diameter.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (JB) 10 January 1975

RCAHMS surveyed the hut circles at Loch Charles on 23 June 1988 by self-reducing alidade and plane-table at a scale of 1:1250. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:2500 (RCAHMS 1990, Fig. 141.1).

This group of hut-circles and small cairns is situated on gently sloping ground to the NNW of Loch Charles. About thirty-five small cairns, the largest 4m in diameter, are scattered across the slope around the hut-circles. Amongst these there are several low stony banks and scarps.

1. NO 0830 5456 (OS 'D') The northernmost of the hut-circles has been reduced to little more than a platform about 11m in diameter with traces of a stony bank along its lip.

2. NO 0829 5451 About 40m to the S of (1) there is a row of three hut-circles aligned from WNW to ESE. The westernmost (OS 'E') of the hut-circles measures 9m from NNE to SSW by 7.6m transversely within a stony bank 1.4m in thickness by 0.3m in height. There is a large facing-stone 0.5m high on the W side of the broad entrance, which is on the SSW, and another upright slab is visible on the ENE. The central hut-circle (OS 'F'), which is the most substantial of them, measures 10.2m from WNW to ESE by 9.2m transversely within a stony bank 2.5m in thickness by 0.5m in height. Six slabs of an inner face can be seen, the tallest about 0.3m high, and six boulders of a probable outer face are visible on the SW. The entrance is on the S. The NW quadrant of the interior has been divided off by an L-shaped length of bank, which is probably of relatively recent date; it is possibly part of a shieling hut, with a second at its E end, but equally it may be no more than a small pen. The easternmost of the hut-circles (OS 'G') measures about 9.5m in internal diameter, but its bank has been reduced to little more than a low swelling 0.2m in maximum height. The entrance is on the SSW. 3. NO 0840 5451 (OS 'C') About 60m due E of the row of three, there is another hut-circle reduced to little more than a platform measuring 8.8m in diameter and dug up to 0.5m into the slope on the W. On the E the front of the platform is about 0.5m high and there are traces of a stony bank along its lip. At the top of the backscarp there is a clearance heap.

4. NO 0842 5442 Near the foot of the slope there is a pair of hut-circles set side by side. The westerly (OS 'A') measures 9.7m in diameter within a stony bank 2m in maximum thickness by 0.3m in height. Numerous boulders protrude through the bank but only one, an upright slab 0.3m high on the outer edge of the bank on the NNW, can be identified as a facing-stone. The entrance is probably on the SSE. The easterly hut-circle (OS 'B') is 9.7m in diameter within a stony bank 1.9m in thickness by 0.3m in height. The position of the entrance is unclear. The interiors of both hut-circles have probably been levelled into the slope on the N.

5. NO 0838 5448 Midway between the row of three hut-circles (2) and the tangential pair (4) there are possibly the remains of another hut-circle, partly overlain by possible shieling huts, and also obscured by deep heather.

Visited by RCAHMS (SPH) 2 May 1988.

RCAHMS 1990.