Doire Domhain

NG54SE 69 555 445

NG 555 445 to NG 556 448 The area contains four roughly circular features set among extensive rig and furrow with two field banks on the south side with a third running north to south on each side of the precipitous scarp. The whole area is grass covered with much heather and is nearly always wet.

NG 5557 4454 - Probable Kerb Cairn (Feature A). The oval shaped feature is situated at 130m OD on sloping ground that drops 1.50m over the 12m length of the remains on an east to west axis. It measures 10m from north to south with the rocky scarp immediately to the east. After reflection for several years it is suggested that the feature is the remains of a kerb cairn that has, had a shieling built on it at a later date.

Concentric Stone Circles, Possible Ring Cairn (Feature B). This feature appears as a pair of concentric stone circles protruding through the heather and grass. The outer circle of stones has a diameter of 10m from east to west and is 9.0m apart. No stones are greater than 0.50m in height. A couple of stones show in the interior. In October 1999 an area 8m by 6m in the northeast quadrant was stripped of turf. The stony interior was confirmed with nothing lying outside the circles. It is thought that the feature is a small ring cairn onto which clearance has been dumped from the agriculture which took place immediately to the east.

Small Circle of Stones (Feature C). A small circle of stones occurs 8m to the north of Feature B. It is 5m in diameter overall with an internal diameter of 3m.

Small Circle of Stones (Feature D). This small circle of stones has a diameter of 4.50m maximum overall and has a 2.50m minimum internally. It has the merest suggestion of a double row of stones in its southwest quadrat. Probing in and around it indicated some stones beneath the turf.

Agricultural Remains. From the north, a field bank runs south for some 180m at the bottom of the slope in the east, before rising and ending near to top of the rocky scarp. From the south of the scarp the bank restarts and continues on in that direction, to close off the higher land to the centre of the island.

Sites identified during an archaeological survey on Raasay by the ACFA.

Anne Wood and Scott Wood, 2004.