Habbie's Howe

SRP field visit

The site is located on level ground on the N side of the Logan Burn adjacent its confluence with a smaller tributary at Lovers Loup and E of Habbie’s Howe. The site comprises the low turf footings of two large rectangular structures and a possible third smaller building now largely obliterated by the track that runs through the valley along the N side. These features are not depicted on any map although the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Edinburghshire 1853, sheet 11) does show the track and also suggests that the burn has encroached northwards subsequently.

The largest structure (A) is aligned E-W and measures some 22.5m x 6m overall and appears to have been subdivided into three approximately equal sized compartments. The E end compartment survives as an unbroken earthen bank suggesting that it may have been rebuilt over earlier footings. A few earth fast stones protrude at intervals along the wall line.

The second structure (B) is smaller measuring some 12m x 6m overall and arranged perpendicular to the larger building. The E long axis forms a slight terrace above marshy ground adjacent the burn. There is a break midway through the low bank that forms the line of the E wall directly above a pronounced water filled hollow in the marshy ground below which exposes stone footings up to three courses deep along the terrace edge. Given its location above the terrace edge it is unlikely that the break in the wall line is an entrance and purpose of the hollow, which is not a spring or well is not clear.

At the W end, perpendicular with building B there is part of a levelled platform approximately 9m long extending from under the made ground of the track. It is possible that this was the location of a third building (C), and the site may have been an early form of courtyard steading.