Gull Loch

NC64SE 17 centred 680 431

See also NC64SE 27 and NC64SE 29.

('A' NC 6801 4317) Hut Circle (NR)

('B' NC 6804 4319 and 'C' NC 6810 4316 and 'D' NC 6816 4318 and 'E' NC 6815 4325) Enclosures (NR)

OS 6" map, (1961)

A hut circle and four enclosures accompanied by field clearance heaps. This is possibly the site where, in 1864, Joass noted two circles, 20 yards apart and 10 yards in diameter, accompanied by 'tumuli', in the centre of one of which he found 'two rude slabs on edge forming a right angle, the corner, doubtless, of a cist, of which the other stones had been removed.' (Joass 1865). In 1866 he opened many of the 'tumuli', 'but found only one cist 5ft 9ins long, formed of flattish stones on edge,and roofed with six small cross slabs. It yielded only a small fragment of bone' (Joass 1868). The particular mounds in which the cists were found could not be identified during field investigation.

J M Joass 1865; J M Joass 1868; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

This is a settlement of five hut circles('A'-'E') in upland, SE-facing, sloping ground. The huts are mainly turf and heather covered but some are heavily overgrown with bracken.

'A' is small but substantial, set into the bottom of a slope. It measures about 4.5m in diameter internally and has an entrance on the south. The wall is from 0.3m to 0.6m high and is spread to 2.0m broad. Several inner facing-slabs are visible in the SE arc.

'B' and 'C' are alike, oval and strongly built, occupying levelled stances on rises. Internal dimensions are 11.5m by 8.5m, and 10.5m by 7.5m respectively, and each has an entrance on the south on the line of the long axis. The walls are 0.4m to 0.6m high and are generally spread to 2.5m increasing to 3.0m in the sides of the entrances. A couple of metres outside the entrance to hut 'B' is a tangential setting, 5.0m long, of smallish, earth-fast boulders backed by earth covered rubble.The east end is approximately opposite the east side of the entrance. Hut 'B's north wall has been disturbed on the outside by a cutting along the tangent.

'D' and 'E' are alike,occupying natural shelves and measuring respectively 8.0m and 9.0m in internal diameter. The walls stand to a maximum of 0.3m high and are spread to 2.0m broad on average.There is a debris-choked entrance in the SE of hut 'E', but none is visible in

hut 'D'. An outer facing of contiguous stones is exposed in the south arc of hut 'E'.

Associated cultivation is indicated by field clearance heaps and rickles of stones on slopes immediately east of the settlement, but no plots were identified.

Visited by OS (J M) 25 July 1978.