Gleann Beag, Dail Bhreac

This farmstead occupies a grass-covered shelf to the rear of a terrace. It consists of the remains of at least four buildings and a kiln disposed about a yard, together with a number of outbuildings and features which may also be kilns or clamps. Some chronological depth is apparent.

The name is given as Dalvreachk by Roy (1747-55, sheet 18/4); the farmstead is depicted by Stobie (1783) and the name is Dalbrach (so too on the maps of Ainslie (1794) and Blackadder (1825)) but is Dalbreachd on Brown's 1808 survey.

A. On the W side of the yard there is a two-compartment rectangular building (10.8m from N to S by 5.3m transversely over stone walls 0.7m thick and up to 1.1m high). A third unit (5m from N to S by 5.05m transversely over walls up to 1m thick and 0.6m high) has been added on the S.

B. Immediately to the S and end-on to (A) there are the remains of an earlier building, which is partially overlain by (A) and sealed by the enclosure-wall adjoining its SE angle. It measures at least 6.9m from N to S by 5m transversely over turf-covered stone wall-footings.

C. At right angles to (B), with which is may originally have been joined, there is a round-angled rectangular building (13.3m from E to W by 4.7m transversely over turf-covered stone wall-footings 1m thick) with two entrances in its S wall.

D. Set a little apart to the SE of (C), and set back into the slope, there is a well-preserved kiln (8.9m from E to W by 4.7 transversely over walls 1m thick and 0.8m high); its bowl measures 2.6m in diameter and is at least 1.2m deep. The flue was on the W and opened to a chamber with an entrance central to is end-wall; a second doorway at the rear of the kiln probably gave access to the kiln-floor. On the N there is a yard, divided into two terraces 19.9m by 22.7m and 17.4m by 13.6m respectively) which are overlain by a later stone-walled enclosure (contemporary with A) measuring 9.8m by 24.2m internally.

E. End-on to the slope, to the W of (C), there is a long, narrow rectangular structure (probably a pen), measuring 11.1m from E to W by 3.4m transversely over stone walls 0.8m in thickness and up to 0.4m in height. Although there are no traces of rig-and-furrow, the area round the farmsted has almost certainly been cultivated.

F. NO 1215 7259 A substantially-built outbuilding (7.4m from N to S by 5m transversely over stone-and-boulder walls up to 0.8m thick and 0.3m high) with an entrance at the S end of the W wall and an outshot on the N (5m by 2.7m overall).

G. On the N and dug into a low knoll there are the remains of a bowl-kiln (1.7m in diameter) with a flue on the S. On the edge of a moraine-ridge (at NO 1208 7254), which borders the terrace on the W, there are the wasted remains of three features that may be either kilns or clamps. The first (5.3m from WSW to ENE by 4.3m transversely) is partially masonry-revetted; the second, to the N, is 5.3m by 3.9m and up to 0.8m deep, and the third, on the WNW, is represented by a hollow roughly 2.5m in diameter and 0.5m deep.

At the break-of-slope to the rear of the haughland (NO 1207 7266) there are the remains of a small bowl-kiln (1.5m in diameter with a flue on the W).

Visited by RCAHMS (IMS) September 1987

RCAHMS 1990

NO17SW 25 1215 7254

Three unroofed buildings, annotated as ruins and of which one has two compartments and an adjoining enclosure, are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Perthshire 1867, sheet xv). Three unroofed buildings, one of which has four compartments, and an enclosure are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 17 November 1997.