Urchany

This barrow stands on a drumlin some 540m SW of the ruins of Urchany farmsteading, within a moorland landscape characterised by the scattered remains of buildings, enclosures and relict cultivation. The barrow comprises a grass-grown central mound measuring about 9m in diameter by 1.5m in height and an enclosing ditch which is approximately 3m in breadth and is accompanied by an external bank 3.5m thick and 0.9m high. A causeway which crosses the ditch on the W side, linking the central mound with the outer bank, may be a later addition.

Information from Historic Scotland scheduling document dated 10 October 2014. Input to Oracle datbase by J Sherriff (RCAHMS) 11 December 2014.

NH 44839 45487 (Canmore ID: 345775) A walkover survey of 3km2 of moor and historic fields, centred on NH 44 45, was undertaken by members of the North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS) during 6–10 April 2015. The survey area includes a multi-period deserted settlement, in four separate foci. It includes a well-known cup-marked stone, known to antiquarians since the 19th century. Recently, a bowl barrow has been identified c500m W of this stone. It was scheduled by Historic Scotland in October 2014.

A survey by the OS in 1970 on the eastern edge of the area identified 10 ‘hut circles’ and a kerbed cairn. Informal surveys by NOSAS members have identified a number of previously unrecorded ruined buildings, three more cup-marked stones, numerous hut circles and cairns, and remains of field systems and cultivation. There is therefore archaeological evidence from the Late Neolithic to the mid-19th century. It was decided to undertake a more rigorous survey to record and photograph all identifiable features, with the aim of identifying changing land and settlement use over time.

Small teams of 2–3 surveyors were allocated to one of five parts of the survey area, in order to identify any built structures that were then given a NGR, described, photographed, and in some cases drawn. Dykes were recorded, field boundaries identified and walked, rig and cultivation remains identified where possible. The preliminary desk-based assessment included important information from estate maps dating back to 1757, kept in the Lovat Estate Office in Beauly, and the Urchany and Farley book produced by Kilmorack Heritage Association. Over 250 structures were identified, almost all of these previously unrecorded. This included four illicit stills, twelve domestic buildings, ten new hut circles (two with souterrains), and numerous cairns some of which may be burial cairns. In addition the field structure with surrounding dykes and associate enclosures has been described.

Archive: Highland HER and National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) intended

Roland Spencer-Jones – NOSAS

(Source: DES,Volume 16)