Creag Leac Nam Fitheach

NC70NW 41 7347 0790

At NC 7347 0790, in an exposed situation on the summit area of Creag Leac nam Fitheach, is a hut circle, partially turf-covered, and levelled into a slight slope. It measures 9.0m diameter within a wall 1.5 to 2.0m wide expanding to 3.0m in the sides of the entrance in the SE arc. Intermittent boulder-facing slabs are exposed around the hut interior to a maximum height of 0.7m.

Within the hut an arc of walling 1.5 to 2.0m wide by up to 0.5m high springs from the west side to form a compartment 4.5m internal diameter; the entrance is a simple gap between the hut wall and this arc of walling. The hut and the compartment appear of similar maturity but the relationship is uncertain. In general the fairly upstanding condition of all the walls suggest re-use possibly in recent times. Several associated stone clearance heaps occur nearby.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (J M) 28 April 1981.

On the broad, heather-covered crest of Creag Leac nam Fitheach there are three hut-circles (ROG95 17, 19, 20), a burial cairn (ROG95 63), a hut (ROG95 62) and a scatter of small cairns (ROG95 893).

At the highest point of Creag Leac nam Fitheach there is a burial cairn (ROG95 63, NC 7345 0791) measuring 6.2m in diameter and 0.6m in height, with an arc of three kerb stones on the WNW.

Towards the summit of the hill there is a two-phase hut-circle (ROG95 17, NC 7347 0790), previously described as hut-circle with a baffle wall. The earlier hut-circle may have measured about 8m or 9m internally within a faced stony bank about 1.5m in thickness and 0.5m in height. The terminals of the bank expand to about 3m at the entrance, which is on the SE, and there are well-defined door-checks at the inner end of the entrance passage. A stony mound and a fragment of bank beside the entrance appear to be butted onto the hut-circle. The later structure measures 5m in diameter within a coursed boulder bank 1.2m in thickness and 0.8m in height and lies in the W half of an earlier, larger hut-circle, into which the entrance opens.

The other two hut-circles lie along the leading edge of the summit to the NE, and measure 9m (ROG95 19, NC 7349 0793) and 11.5m (ROG95 20, NC 7351 0791) in diameter within stony banks spread to 1.9m in thickness and 0.3m in height. The entrances are on the S (ROG95 19) and SE (ROG95 20); the latter has a baffle extending for about 2.5m beyond the bank, and what may be a small hut has been built in the E of the interior. Scattered across the summit and sides of Creag Leac nam Fitheach (ROG95 893), there are at least thirty small cairns, measuring up to 4m in diameter and 0.4m in height.

There is a hut (ROG95 62, NC 7345 0786), measuring 2.3m by 1.3m internally, levelled into the back of a terrace on the SW of the ridge. A rickle of stones and a small cairn on a terrace to the S (NC70NW 50) may have been part of this site.

(ROG95 17, 19, 20, 62-3, 893)

Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 8 March 1995

RCAHMS surveyed the hut circle at Creac Leac nam Fitheach on 12 May 1995 at a scale of 1:250. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink at a scale of 1:500.

RCAHMS surveyed the burial cairn at Creac Leac nam Fitheach with alidade and plane-table on 12 May 1995 at a scale of 1:100. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink at a scale of 1:200.