Strath Fleet

NC60NW 1 623 056.

(A: NC 6233 0567; B: NC 6238 0563) Hut Circles (NR) (Ruins of) (NAT) ('A' appears to measure about 15 m in diameter and 'B' about 30 m.)

OS 6" map, Sutherlandshire, 2nd ed., (1873)

Two hut circles with walls about 2ft high.

Name Book 1873.

About 3 miles E of Lairg, on the N side of the road to Rogart, situated on a slight terrace on the hillside, is a hut circle of the usual form, with its entrance from the SE. It measures 26ft by 29ft internally. The interior space has been diminished by a low wall of boulders and turf, which curves across from either side as as to form a circle of the front portion 21ft in diameter. In the centre of this area is a low bed of stones, about 4ft across, which has probably formed a hearth as on cutting out a turf, wood charcoal was found. Some 60ft further E, and at a slightly lower level, is another circle, measuring some 28ft by 34ft internally, with its entrance from the SE. An old road passes along the hillside between these two circles.

A circular mound, low and rather dilapidated, 22ft in diameter, lies about 40ft NW of the last circle and about 12ft lower on the slope.

On a slight elevation, about 100 yards W of the last, and some 20ft above the road, are the remains of another circle. The bank on the N has fallen away, taking a considerable part of the enclosure with it, and disclosing a section of the interior, which shows a layer of charcoal about 2ft deep from 5 to 6ft below the present surface lying on a level floor of earth. There are no bones or foreign matter among the charcoal. In the NE portion of the interior is a cup-shaped hollow about 7ft across and 1 1/2ft deep.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

The hut circle described and planned by the RCAHMS is at NC 6231 0570, and measures 10.5m N-S by 9.0m transversely. The internal wall and hearth are still visible.

Some 46m SE of this hut circle are the remains of an oval enclosure measuring 13.4m NW-SE by 10.0m transversely. The entrance, 1.5m wide, is in the SE.

No definite traces of a mound such as described by the RCAHMS was noted in the vicinity of this enclosure, but there are several small natural mounds of earth and stone in the area. No trace of the third hut circle described was found in the area indicated, but some 100 yards SE of the enclosure, on top of a natural knoll, are the remains of a hut circle corresponding to the desciption. This mutilated hut circle, 10.0m in diameter, apparently had its entrance, about 1.0m wide, in the N side. The whole of the S segment of the circle has collapsed due to quarrying below it, and traces of charcoal can be seen in the exposed section of the floor. No hollow as described by the RCAHMS was seen within the circle.

Visited by OS (W D J) 1 September 1963.

(NC 6233 0567) Hut Circle (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)

Two hut circles were located during field investigation, the first and second huts noted by the RCAHMS and the previous field investigator (A and B). The first (A) at NC 6233 0567 is generally as described by the previous authorities, measuring 9.0m N-S by 8.0m within a spread wall 1.5m to 2.0m wide and 0.3m high internally. The simple entrance is in the S. The interior detail is now very faint. The second hut (B), at NC 6238 0563, has been extensively mutilated. The SW quarter has been destroyed by road realignment earthworks, and the bank in the NE has been disfigured by a fence crossing it. Internally the hut measures 11.5m NW-SE; the transverse measurement is unobtainable.

No mound of any archaeological significance was located. The third hut was not found. It seems most probable that it was destroyed during the latest road realigning. There is no indication of contemporary cultivation in the immediate vicinity.

Survey revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (J B) 5 December 1980.