Tubeg

NC12SE 1 198 246.

Iron mines were dug in Assynt of old and the ore was smelted in different parts of the parish. 'At Tubeg particularly these mines were dug etc charcoal was plentifully got the bounds being one thick forest. John Sinclair, still living, found a piece of iron. .' which he used to make up agricultural implements and which from the description given was almost certainly a 'bloom' of iron from a bloomery. The OSA (OSA 1795) suggests that the iron mining and smelting were pre-'Scandinavian invasion' in date and the RCAHMS (RCAHMS 1911) generally considers these sites prehistoric but recent information (A C M Mitford 1936) suggests a considerable 16th/17th century industry to the S of Assynt, at Loch Maree, an area with which the Tubeg site may possibly be associated.

OSA 1795; RCAHMS 1911; A C M Mitford 1936.

The only reasonable certain evidence of iron mining in the Tubeg area is a short distance NW of the ruined farm where there is a circular depression, 8.0m in diameter and 1.5m deep, probably a mine shaft or surface pit. On the headland called Torr an Eileen to the N the slopes appear in places to have been dug into but this may be a natural formation. No evidence of a furnace was discovered and there were no traces of slag or cinders.

The ruins of Tubeg, apparently a farm, and the headland called Torr an Eileen fall within an area centred NC 198 246.

Visited by OS (E G) 18 May 1962.

No general change to the previous information. Two small surface quarry pits on a low eminence at NC 1996 2456 may be associated with the iron industry. They measure 3.0m across and 0.5m deep.

Visited by (J B) 12 August 1980.