Colonsay, Beinn Arnicil

RCAHMS surveyed the hut-circle and field-system at Beinn Arnicil at a scale of 1:400 on multiple sheets. The plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 244). A plan of the hut-circle was also prepared at 1:100. It too was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1984, fig. 244A).

NR 373 918. Beinn Arnicil is situated to the W of the public road from Scalasaig to the Strand and immediately N of Teampull a Ghlinne (RCAHMS 1984, No. 390). Rising to a height of 83m OD, it is flanked on the NW by a series of crags and elsewhere by rocky slopes which on the E are interrupted by a number of narrow small enclosures and a field-system, which are described below, as well as a dun which is recorded under NR39SE 11 (RCAHMS 1984, No. 202).

The hut-circle (A RCAHMS 1984 plan [NR 3744 9194]) is situated at the mouth of a gully 75m SE of the summit cairn; it comprises a roughly circular chamber, 5.5m in internal diameter, and three smaller chambers ranging from 4m to 1.5m in diameter. The wall are faced with roughly coursed masonry and rise to a maximum height of 0.5m. The circular chamber is entered from the SE through two of the outer chambers, with the smaller possibly serving as a porch; the other entrance to the porch has an upright slab on the E side of the passage. The fourth chamber opens directly to the exterior on the SE. Immediately inside the entrance to the circular chamber there is an upright pillar of stone, 0.8m in height, of unknown function.

Running along the crest of the gully to the NE of the hut-circle, there is a stone-revetted bank which terminates in a roughly-built oval enclosure, possibly a hut (B [NR 3747 9194]), measuring up to 4m in diameter internally. On a gently sloping terrace SE of the hut-circle there is an L-shaped stretch of a stony bank; only part of the bank is exposed above the peat, which blankets much of the hillside, but it may have formed an enclosure abutting the cliff to the S.

There are three other small stone-walled enclosures or huts on the hillside (C, D and E). Enclosure C, which lies 45m SE of the summit cairn, is oval and measures 4m by 6m within a stony bank now almost completely masked by peat. Enclosures D and E are situated 170m ENE and 210m NE respectively of the summit cairn; the former is roughly circular and measures 3m in diameter internally, while enclosure E is oval measuring 6.5m by 4m.

The field-boundaries consist of stony mounds, about 1m thick and 0.2m high, which incorporate closely-spaced upright slabs up to 0.45m high; the uprights sometimes occur at intervals of as little as 0.3m but are often much more widely spaced. On a terrace immediately below the summit cairn a stretch of wall forms a pear-shaped enclosure measuring 30m by 28m; in the past (Loder 1935) this enclosure has been interpreted as a stone circle, as the upright stones are particularly large, but there is no reason to believe that it does not form part of the field-system. Elsewhere the walls form linear boundaries which cross the hillside before being lost in the lower marshy ground; sometimes short stretches were used to cut off gullies, particularly on the steep W face of the hill. Several short lengths of walling, possibly forming part of this system, can be seen in deep heather to the W of the area shown on the plan, and on the NE the wall running eastwards from enclosure D begins again some 50m to the E and continues for at least 150m before being lost in deep heather.

In addition to the hut-circle and field-system, there is a dun (F), Dunan nan Con (RCAHMS 1984, No. 202 [NR39SE 11]); a ruined rectangular building (G; NR 3769 9201) and a patch of rig-and-furrow cultivation; a section of abandoned roadway with flanking ditches; and scattered elsewhere on the hillside, several shieling-like structures.

Visited April 1979

RCAHMS 1984