Drumderg

NO15NE 5 centred 185 551.

On a SE-facing slope at 1,200' O D are 5 circular stone-walled huts (A - E), noted on Thornycroft's map (W Thorneycroft 1933), and a contemporary field system.

'A' - NO 1856 5519 - is well-preserved and measures 11.5m internally between an inner face of large upright slabs up to 0.8m high. There are no outer facing stones, but smaller stones form a revetment 1.5m wide against the inner facing stones. The ill-defined entrance is in the SE. On the S side of the hut is a circular stony mound 6.5m in diameter and 0.6m high, slightly hollow in the centre.

'B' - NO 1857 5522 - measures 8.0m internally; the heather-covered waall spreads to an indeterminate width but appears to splay towards the well-defined entrance in the S.

'C' - NO 1853 5510 - a "Dalrulzion"-type hut, measuring 9.5m internally and 16.5m between outer wall centres, with an entrance in the SE.

'D' - NO 1853 5509 - measures 7.5m internally with walling of indeterminate thickness. The entrance is in the ESE.

'E' - NO 1850 5508 - measures internally 8.0m with walling of uncertain thickness. The walling in the W arc thickens where it merges with a curving field wall. The entrance is not evident. Between 'D' and 'E' is another hut 4.5m in diameter, represented by a level platform with a few stones around the perimeter. The surrounding field system consists of clearance heaps, lynchets and enclosure and field walls.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (AA) 30 April 1974

A settlement of six, possibly seven hut-circles, cairns, enclosures and remains of cultivation ridges and lynchets are situated on the E flank of Drumderg at a height of about 380m OD. The hut-circles are described from SW to NE.

1. NO 1848 5508 (OS 'E') This hut-circle lies at the SW end of a group of three or four hut-circles and is essentially a single-walled structure which measures 7.7m in diameter within a stone wall 1.6m thick and 0.3m high. The interior is slightly scooped into the natural slope and the inner face of intermittent large boulders include some which form a revetment on the uphill edge. There is very little outer facing present and the poorly-defined entrance is situated on the SE, A low stony bank springs from the outer face of the wall on the SW and runs concentrically close to the outer edge to a point on the NW where it changes direction towards the W. This bank forms an enclosure to the NW and N of the line of hut-circles.

2. NO 1849 5508 Situated between (1) and (3) there is a stony ring measuring about 5m in diameter; it may indicate the position of a small hut-circle.

3. NO 1850 5508 (OS 'D') This single-walled hut-circle measures 6m in diameter within a stony bank 1.6m thick and 0.3m high. The inner edge of the wall is defined on the NW by an intermittent line of boulders which front a scarp produced by the scooping of the interior. The outer face of the wall is virtually non-existent except for several facing-stones immediately W of the entrance which is on the ESE.

4. NO 1851 5510 (OS 'C') The NE member of the line is double-walled and measures 9.3m in diameter within a stone wall reduced to a bank 1.9m thick and 0.6m high. The interior has been levelled into the natural slope and on the NNW the scarp is lined with a row of boulders. Overall the hut-circle measures 17.2m in diameter over a bank measuring up to 1.4m in thickness and 0.2m in height; on the NW the outer wall takes the form of a stone-faced revetment rather than a true wall. The entrance is on the SE and is approximately 1.9m wide; it is outwardly splayed and on the E side of the entrance the inner and outer walls have fused to form one solid mass.

5. NO 1854 5519 (OS 'A') At the N edge of the site there is a group of three hut-circles the southerly of which is single-walled and measures 10.8m in diameter within a wall 1.4m thick and averaging 0.3-0.4m in height. This wall has a very well preserved inner face of large boulders measuring up to 0.7m high. The composition of the wall appears to simply be loose rubble piled up against the rear of the inner face. The ill-defined entrance is on the SE. Situated immediately S of the hut-circle there is a poorly defined rough rectangular structure measuring about 5m E-W by 4m overall.

6. NO 1855 5521 (OS 'B') This double-walled hut-circle measures 6.8m in diameter within an inner wall reduced to a bank 1.5m thick and 0.4m high. The inner face of this wall comprises large boulders and is best-preserved to the W of the entrance. It is situated on the S side and measures 1.3m in width splaying out to a maximum width of about 2.6m. The interior area is marked by a shallow ring-ditch which is concentric to, and just within the line of, the inner face; it measures 1.2-1.7m wide. Overall the hut-circle measures 15.2m in diameter over an outer wall measuring up to 1.2m in thickness and 0.2m in height; this outer wall contrasts markedly with the more substantial inner wall with which it fuses 3m to either side of the entrance. On the E side there are slight traces of a drainage gully about 0.4m wide but not more than 0.05m deep; it runs from a point on the N arc to a point on the E arc from where it then runs off down the slope away from the hut-circle.

7. NO 1850 5521 This structure sits on a platform on a SE-facing slope and measures 7.4m in diameter within a rear scarp and a bank which is best preserved on the SE where it measures 1.7m in thickness and 0.3m in height. On the W and E sides there is no actual bank but slight scarps carry the wall lines around on to the rear scarp. The entrance is probably marked by a shallow depression in the bank on the S.

The hut-circles at Drumderg are probably roughly contemporary with the field-system in which they lie. Direct relationships between the hut-circles and the banks can be illustrated where the walls of both the N and S enclosures join on to hut-circle walls.

The relationship between the wall, which curves around the SW side of (1) can only be seen as contemporary; had the wall been later it would surely have ridden up over the hut-circle wall, and had it been earlier it would probably have been overlain. The suggestion that both the hut-circle and the wall were in use at the same time does not exclude the possibility that one may have been built at an earlier date.

Within the S enclosure there are traces of strip-fields, cultivation-ridges and -furrows and at least one lynchet. The lynchet is probably contemporary with the main use of the site, as the N enclosure appears to be full of the remains of low lynchets. The strip-fields may also be roughly contemporary with the hut-circles and represent simply a differing method of cultivation. The ridge-and-furrow cultivation may be late but there is no real evidence of this; the clearance cairns probably originally began to be formed when occupation of the site began but they may have remained in use through the history of the site.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 16 July 1987.

RCAHMS 1990.

RCAHMS surveyed the hut circles and field system at Drumderg on 4 June 1987 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. 122.9).

In order to carry out the Archaeological requirement of an environmental assessment at the proposed locations of three windfarms, a programme of documentary and archival research and field survey was undertaken by GUARD in July 1994. The work was commissioned by Energy Unlimited on behalf of The New World Power Company Limited. Of the three sites examined, Hart Hill (SC03), was the only one to be free of archaeological structures. The two remaining sites Drumderg (SC01) and Dulater Hill (SC04) have a number of archaeological structures in the immediate area but few in the proposed construction area. With slight modifications in layout and careful planning these should not be an obstacle to the proposed projects.

GUARD 1994