Lochan Nan Cat

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There are at least ten shieling-huts and four enclosures or pens by the banks of two burns debouching from the NE corrie of Ben Lawers into Lochan nan Cat. Most of them are clustered at about 730m OD, at the upper end of a gentle grassy slope and immediately below the rocky mouth of the corrie, though a few are located farther NE, on the flat grassy ground close to the shore of the lochan.

Most of the huts can be divided into one of three classes on the basis of their construction. Firstly, three huts (BL00 84, 2065-6) have turf walls and measure from 2.2m to 2.6m in length and from 1.7m to 1.9m in breadth internally. One of these (BL00 2066) has a low spread of turf, possibly a midden heap, extending from its entrance. Secondly, there are four huts (BL00 87, 89, 91, 2067) with an internal stone facing encased within an outer shell or embankment of turf. Two of these (BL00 87 and 89) measure respectively 4.7m by 1.9m and 5m by 2.3m, both within walls up to 0.8m high. The former has an aumbry in one end and an upright stone, possibly a fireback, just inside the entrance, and both huts have substantial mounds, again possibly middens, extending from their entrances. The other two turf-embanked huts are much smaller, measuring internally 2.3m by 1.3m (BL00 91) and 1.9m by 1.5m (BL00 2067). Finally, one hut (BL00 90), the largest and best-preserved in the group, is built entirely of stone. It measures 5.7m in length and 1.8m in breadth within walls up to 1.2m in height; the lower courses of a stone gable survive at the WSW end, there is an aumbry in each end and a possible midden mound extends from the entrance. The more regular build of this hut suggests that it is later than the others in the group.

Two huts cannot be placed in either of the classes defined above (BL00 85 and 2068). They stand on the banks of a burn close to the lochan, and are in poor condition, probably due to erosion by floods. Fragments of walling and amorphous mounds in this area may represent the last vestiges of other huts.

Three of the enclosures are small roughly-built structures measuring up to 3.2m by 2.8m internally (BL00 86, 2064). One, however, is much larger (BL00 88). It is rectangular on plan, measuring 7.3m by 6m within walls reduced largely to rows of edge-set stones, though there is a fragment of laid masonry at the SW corner. It may be that it was associated with the large gable-ended hut described above (BL00 90), while the other enclosures are perhaps contemporary with the earlier shieling-huts.

John Farquharson's 1772 Plan of Deshoir (National Archive of Scotland, RHP 569) identifies 'Shealls' in this area, though no individual huts are depicted.

(BL00 84-91, 2064-8)

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 19 April 2000 and (SDB) 20 March 2005