Geodha Na Glaic Baine
Kelp Kiln(S) (Post Medieval)(Possible), Lazy Beds (Post Medieval), Mill (Post Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name Geodha Na Glaic Baine
Classification Kelp Kiln(S) (Post Medieval)(Possible), Lazy Beds (Post Medieval), Mill (Post Medieval)(Possible)
Canmore ID 4451
Site Number NB91SE 2
NGR NB 9687 1380
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4451
- Council Highland
- Parish Lochbroom
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NB91SE 2 9686 1380
(NB 9686 1380) Cairn, partially excavated by a local. (Also a 20th century burial - sailor, 1914-18.)
OS 6"map, annotated by I Crawford, September 1961.
The cairn stands on a narrow, flat-topped grassy promontory, flanked by deep gulleys; it consists of an irregularly-shaped mound, 1.0m high, of loose water-worn stones with no evidence of a retaining circle or chambering.
A small area in the centre has been cleared to natural ground surface. Around and partially underlying the cairn are overgrown patches of stones, giving a superficial appearance of walling, and to the E are the remains of three small hollowed-out enclosures.
Local enquiry (Mr Maclennan, Blarbuie) ascertained that (1) the cairn was originally excavated about 50 years ago by a local man, no records of finds being made. (2) the visible clearance was made recently by a Mr McGregor of Glasgow University who thought that a fort had originally occupied the site; (3) the small enclosures were built and used for seaweed storage and are of no significance; (4) the "Sailor's Grave" is sited on another spur to the N.
Although the grassed-over rubble gives a superficial appearance of walling, the form is meaningless. This and the fact that nearly all the stones of the cairn are water-worn beach stones, quite unsuitable for building, make it unlikely that this was a fort. A robbed burial cairn is the more likely explanation.
Visited by OS (F R H), 30 May 1962.
The promontory on which this cairn stands is capped by a layer of gravel and small stones up to 8' deep, which is in turn covered by a thin topping of peat. The cairn itself is a mound of bare stones (11.5m NW-SE x 8.0m NE-SW x 0.8m high) and it looks from excavations around it as if the peat at one time covered it, signifying it is of some antiquity. It is partly the edge of these excavations and a few fortuitous stones that OS field Surveyor (F R H) has taken to be pre-cairn walling. Despite the lack of evidence from the excavation, it seems likely that this is a sepulchral cairn placed on what is now the remnants only of a small raised beach, and it is not unlike the cairns on Rhum (See NM39NW 3). There is no indication of a fort here, although the position is a good one for a small defensive structure.
Surveyed at 1:10560 scale.
Visited by OS (A A), 16 July 1974.
Field Visit (12 May 1994)
Three pits (ACHIL94 30-2) which may have been kelp kilns, a possible-mill and some lazy-beds lie on, or adjacent to, the rocky promontory called Geodha na Glaic Baine. In addition, there is a raised beach on the promontory into which a pit has been dug, the upcast from which gives the appearance of a cairn, but there is no visible evidence to confirm its identification.
Two of the pits are on the rocky promontory and the third is on the other side of a neck of land that joins the promontory to the mainland. The pits are subrectangular on plan, between 0.4m and 0.6m deep, with flat bottoms, measuring from 3.3m to 4m in length by between 2.5m and 3.4m in breadth, each with a drain leading out to the cliff-edge. The pit on the mainland is cut into lazy-beds on the NE and SE.
What may be a platform for a mill-building is situated S of a small burn which runs over the cliff to the S of the promontory. The platform is set into the slope of the ground on the E and measures 6.9m from N to S by 4.5m within much-reduced, rubble walls spread to 1.4m in thickness and up to 0.6m high. A few facing stones are visible where the walls are best-preserved on the N, and a drain cuts through the middle of the building from E to W, which may mark the line of a lade.
The lazy-beds occupy the full width of the grassy slopes between the cliff edge by the promontory and the public road to Reiff, extending for a distance of about 180m from N to S.
(ACHIL94 30-2, 198)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD), 12 May 1994.
