Muck, Blar Na Fionn-aird

NM47NW 40 41650 79269

Two subrectangular buildings, a hut and a possible retting pond are scattered across an E-facing terrace amongst ruinous field-walls and cultivation remains. The larger building lies at the foot of the crag at the N end of a ridge overlooking an area of boggy ground that falls away E into a gully (NM 41761 79222). It measures 9.1m from E to W by 4.2m transversely within a drystone rubble wall 0.8m in thickness and still standing 1.2m in height. It has rounded internal angles, but is squared externally, and its entrance is located midway along the N side. A scarp runs across the interior 3m from its E end, possibly indicating the position of a partition, and the rubble of a collapsed pen can be seen in the SW corner. Two short stretches of wall extend from its SE and SW corners respectively to the foot of the crag, forming an enclosure at the rear of the building, while another wall extends from its NE corner into the floor of the gully. The retting pond, which measures 5.3m by 2.9m transversely, is situated 25m to the WSW, close to the edge of a boggy hollow (NM 41732 79213). It has been dug into the slope on the SW and is dammed elsewhere with a faced rubble wall 0.9m in thickness and 0.7m in height. A channel has been dug around its NW end.

The second building is situated below a crag to the WNW, lying at the rear of a field enclosing lazy-bed cultivation (NM 41650 79269). It is similar in size to the first, measuring 8.9m by 4.1m within drystone rubble walls 0.8m in thickness and 1.2m in height. Round-ended on plan, with its entrance opening to the E, its interior has been dug into the slope on the W. An outshot measuring 5m by 3.6m internally abuts its N end; this too is round-ended and has an entrance on the E. Immediately to the W an enclosed garden plot containing lazy-beds can be seen. The hut lies in the same field some 65m to the E of the building (NM 41720 79270). It occupies the angle between the field-wall and a small enclosure that has been inserted into the SE corner of the field. Internally the hut measures 2.1m by 1m, and it is open-ended on the N.

(Muck02, 236, 246-8)

Visited by RCAHMS (ARG) 22 May 2002