Blairmore
Field System (Prehistoric)
Site Name Blairmore
Classification Field System (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 5963
Site Number NC70SW 1
NGR NC 7460 0370
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/5963
- Council Highland
- Parish Rogart
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NC70SW 1 7460 0370
(Centred NC 746 037) Field System (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)
Great numbers of mainly circular mounds of the usual character lie over an area about half a mile square along the top and west flank of the hill above the 500ft contour. One, about a third of a mile ENE of the parish church (NC 7387 0352, lies NNW-SSE, measures 29ft by 18ft, and is 1 1/2ft to 2ft high. About 40ft north of it is a semi oval enclosure, facing east and measuring 17ft across the open end and 11ft deep. It is enclosed by a low bank 5ft to 6ft broad and has a cairn-like mound 18ft long and 16ft broad to rear of it.
The whole of the hill above 500ft bears great numbers of earth and stone mounds together with lynchets and old field banks. No associated structures could be found but the mounds are undoubtedly field clearance heaps. They vary in size and shape from 3m to 10m in diameter and from circular to irregular oval. Their association may be with the settlement, 300m to the north (NC70SW 6).
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909
The structure described by the RCAHMS could not be located.
Revised at 1:2500.
Area of field system surveyed at 1:2500 and delineated by pecks.
Visited by OS (RB) 17 February 1966.
No change to previous field report. The field system has every appearance of hut circle association.
Visited by OS (JM) 19 March 1981.
Field Visit (22 March 1995)
NC70SW 1 7460 0370
On the hill to the E of Blairmore there are a number of small cairns, an enclosure and several lengths of bank. The small cairns are disposed over a distance of 550m from N to S by up to 450m transversely; they measure up to 10m in diameter by 1m in height. On the S a declivity, in which there are no cairns, cuts through the hill from E to W, dividing the spread of cairns into two unequal parts. Several lengths of bank are visible, but no plots or fields could be identified. A semi-circular arc of bank, not unlike a hut-circle bank, but open to the N, was visible on level ground (NC c.7452 0355) near the S edge of the E-W gully; this may be the semi-oval enclosure noted by the RCAHMS in 1909 (RCAHMS 1911).
(ROG95 441)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 22 March 1995
