Poll Dubh

The following features were recorded during a landscape management survey of the 18th-century military road network.

NH 4506 5781 - Contin - This short alternative track appears to represent the original line. It consists of a good carriageway of c4m width with parallel banks. It leads down to a still functioning ford before rejoining the modern track. NH001

NH 4432 5923 - Rogie - The modern track forks right at this point; however, the original line carries straight on upon a raised bed towards an earlier bridging spot. NH002

NH 4248 5920 - Rogie - The remains of a longhouse with garden and at least one other building sitting in an extensive system of enclosure, presumably part of the dispersed settlement of Rogie (NH46SW 3). NH004

NH 4224 5983 - Garve - Curvilinear dyke and a probable clearance cairn between the dyke and the ford. Both features suggest a pre-improvement date. NH006

NH 4065 6097 - Garve - Possible capping stones for a blocked culvert which appears to have been fed by a back drain. NH013

NH 4064 6104 - Garve A ‘quarried’ area dug through the revetment supporting this section of road. Its function is difficult to determine. If it is a quarry for stone, it is hard to understand the need to dig down into a specific area when good stones abound all across this slope. One possibility is that it was seen as a convenient place to construct a lime kiln with the building materials readily to hand. The lime could also be loaded from the ready-made access route leading to the top. There is a large flue-like gully on the downslope side. NH016

NH 3469 6358 - Corriemoillie - A short stretch of earlier road can be seen on the S side of Corriemoillie Wood, defined by a bank and level area and following the base of the scarp. NH022

Archive: FCS, Inverness and RCAHMS

Funder: Forestry Commission Scotland

Colin Shepherd