Altnaharra

NC53NE 1 576 356.

(A: NC 5765 3568; B: NC 5757 3560; C: NC 5766 3559; D: NC 5768 3559) Enclosures (NR)

OS 6" (1963)

A group of four hut circles with associated field clearance.

'A': Hut circle, 10.7m N-S by 8.8m transversely. Mutilated turf bank 0.2m high and about 2.7m wide; entrance, 1.3m wide, on S.

'B': Hut circle, 8.6m NE-SW by 11.3m transversely. Heather covered, earth and stone bank 1.1m high and 4.2m wide on S. Entrance, 1.4m wide, on SE.

'C': Hut circle, 14.0m N-S by 13.3m transversely, Heather-covered, earth and stone bank 4.5m wide and 0.7m high, mutilated on the N. Entrance, 1.0m wide, on S.

'D': Hut circle, 14.0m N-S by 10.6m transversely. Heather-covered, earth and stone bank, 3.2m wide and 0.7m high. Entrance, 1.3m wide, on SE. Hut circle cut by fence on N.

All the circles are slightly scooped into the slope on the N.

The stone clearance lies to the S.

The RCAHMS note another hut circle, heather-covered, 100ft NE of this group but it could not be located.

RCAHMS 1911; Visited by OS (WDJ) 4 May 1961.

This is a settlement of four hut circles (A-D) accompanied by a minor field system. The situation is gentle moorland open to the S.

The huts, oval in shape and heather-covered, are either levelled up on or set back in the slope, and all have an entrance position in either the S or SE on the line of the long axis. Internal dimensions, A to D respectively, are 9.5m by 7.5m, 9.0m by 7.0m, 12.5m by 12.0m and 11.0m by 9.0m. Walls generally are reduced to a rubble spread, varying from 2.0m to 3.0m broad by 0.3m to 0.6m high.

The minor field system is denoted by a scatter of stone clearance heaps and occasional traces of lynchets. No measurable plots are discernible. Revised at 1:10,000

Visited by OS (JM) 25 June 1980