Innis Bhreac

Measured survey and photographs.

This site is situated on the sloping grass and heather moorland of Innis Bhreac, between two steams which flow SW, and meet to cascade down the face of the Ailnack gorge. It lies approximately 300m SW of NJ11NE 45 and comprises the low footings of two rectangular buildings, one with an attached rectangular enclosure.

The first building is aligned NE-SW and survives as turf covered stone footings, 0.7m thick and standing up to 0.5m high. The enclosure extends in a NE direction from its W wall and is bounded by a turf wall 1m thick which stands up to 0.7m high. The enclosure wall has been disturbed by the construction of a track and drainage ditch and is not readily traceable SE of the building. The second, smaller building, which measures c4m by c3m, lies approximately 100m to the NE and has a large stone in the SW end.

An extensive area of level grass E of the settlement and modern track shows faint traces of rig and furrow. Turf walls run around the perimeter of this improved ground, forming a large enclosure, which has been sub-divided by two low turf walls running in a downhill direction.

The settlement is not recorded on William Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland (1747 – 1755), nor on the 1st edition of the OS six-inch map (Banff-shire 1871, sheet lxiii).

Information from SRP Strath Avon Survey, August 2011.