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Meall Meadhonach, Loch Eriboll

Aisled Roundhouse (Iron Age), Wheelhouse (Iron Age)(Possible)

Site Name Meall Meadhonach, Loch Eriboll

Classification Aisled Roundhouse (Iron Age), Wheelhouse (Iron Age)(Possible)

Alternative Name(s) Tigh Na Fiarnain

Canmore ID 4972

Site Number NC46SW 1

NGR NC 4049 6102

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4972

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Durness
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Sutherland
  • Former County Sutherland

Archaeology Notes

NC46SW 1 4049 6102

(NC 4049 6102) Wheelhouse (NR)

OS 6" map, (1961)

An enigmatic structure known as Tigh na Fiarnain - House of the Fingalians - and set in an uncultivable area of almost bare rock at a height of over 900ft. It measures 5.5m NE-SW by 5m NW-SE within its dry-built wall, 1.1m thick and 1.4m high, with the entrance in the E.

In the interior is a circle of seven orthostats set at a distance of about 1m from the wall, one of which is lintelled, another partially so, and possible roofing slabs lie about.

On the W, an annexe, 8.5m long and 3m broad, defined by erect slabs bedded in the peat, curves round the structure. The peat in the inerior has been scooped out. To the N are traces of an outer wall which appear to curve in towards the annexe wall; and to the SW are vague traces of yet another enclosure formed by erect slabs, now collapsed, and bounded by rock outcrops on the S.

J Mathieson 1925; Information from Dr C S Sandeman, 2 March 1959; Visited by OS (J L D) 5 April 1959.

An unusually well-preserved example of a wheelhouse, as described and illustrated by the previous authorities. Tumble has been added to the wall accentuating its height, and the S side of the entrance has been buttressed against collapse. Some of the internal lintels appear to be re-erections.

Revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (N K B) 12 May 1980.

This structure is more akin to the round aisled-houses or 'wags' of the Latheron district of Caithness, having free-standing orthostats as opposed to radial walls or slabs of the true Hebridean wheel-house, and should be considered as a homestead for publication. Its remote location and being so distant from the main group far to the east, is puzzling.

Visited by OS (J L D) 1 Feburary 1983.

Activities

Publication Account (2007)

NC46 2 LOCH ERIBOLL ('Tigh nan Fiarnain', ‘Meall Meadhonach’)

NC/4049 6102

This apparent wheelhouse – the Gaelic name of which means 'House of the Fingalians' or 'Fenians' – lies in Durness parish, about 1.5 miles west of Loch Eriboll on high moorland with much bare rock in evidence; the site itself is on the slope of a small hillock and nearly 1000ft above sea level (visited in 1963). It was described in 1925 [2] but no photo-graphs were included so one cannot tell whether the building was cleared out at that time. It is not mentioned by the Royal Commission.

The structure was described as an “earth-house” [2] but at that time the term was used for the wheelhouse type of roundhouse as well as the true underground souterrains. This is a round drystone house sitting in the surface and, though small, it resembles the wheelhouses of Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. Alternatively it might be a compact, round version of the 'galleried dwellings', with rows of internal orthostatic pillars, found in Caithness – for example at the Wag of Forse (ND23 14) and Yarrows (ND34 17).

The main building is approximately circular but with one straight section on the east side. The entrance passage faces north-east but contains no door-frame and the interior contains an oval setting of six upright orthostats about 1.22m (4ft) high with a seventh projecting from the straight section of the wall on the east. Just before 1925 it was stated that "slabs measuring 5ft in length radiate from these to the circumference. The space between these lintels also appears to have been covered with large slabs…" (author’s emphasis) [2, 222].

However the contrast between this completely lintelled area and both adjacent 'chambers', which have nothing resting on their pillars, suggests that some reconstruction has taken place. indeed the whole 'roof' may be modern. Mathieson says that, while the north side of the main building was well preserved, the south side was “level with the ground." Now, the wall is standing fairly high all the way round, rubble having been added to it. Moreover in 1925 –

"The inner part of the building is so tumbled that it is impossible, without excavation, to say what was the original formation." [2, 221]

In 1963 there was very little rubble inside or around the structure. Extensive clearance and crude reconstruction have evidently taken place during the 38 years separating the visits of Mathieson and the author. Thus, even leaving aside the extremely small size, the architectural resemblance to Hebridean wheel-houses – seen in the lintels stretching from orthostats to surrounding wall – must be ignored as almost certainly a modern re-building. A link with the 'galleried dwellings' of Caithness seems most probable, although the siting of the building in such barren terrain is puzzling.

There is an external annexe on the southern and western sides of the round building, 8.5m long and 3m wide, the wall being defined by erect slabs bedded in the peat [1]. This wall does not survive above these foundations and no doorway in it has been located. The peat in the interior has been scooped out.

Dimensions [2]: the maximum internal diameter is c. 5.2m (17ft) and the wall is from 60-105cm (2ft-4ft 6in) thick.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 46 SW 1: 2. Mathieson 1925.

E W MacKie 2007

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