Mid Gleniron

NX16SE 19 192 616 to 195 619.

(NX 194 617) Cairns (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

Along the slope of Gleniron Fell towards the S are the remains of numerous small round stone huts measuring some 12 feet in overall diameter; also a number of cairn-like heaps of stones, and an oblong building.

On a natural terrace are two circular enclosures some 70 feet apart, one measuring 30 feet in diameter and the other 24 feet with wall thickness of 5 feet. The position of the entrances is doubtful, but seems to have been from the SE. These circles have been connected by a ruined wall running from the bank of the westmost round to the E side of the other to form an enclosure some 215 feet in length by about 75 feet in breadth. This system of linked enclosures was also observed in Sutherland, and was evidently connected with a pastoral life, probably not prehistoric.

RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911

NX 1956 6181 On a stone-littered S-facing slope are three stone built enclosures ranging from 7.0m to 10.5m internal diameter and with walls varying in thickness from 2.0 to 3.0m. They have featureless interiors and no apparent entrances. They are of indeterminate age and purpose, but they do not appear to be hut circles. A substantial wall runs around the N of these enclosures at about 30.0m distance but curves round to connect with the easternmost. Another wall runs around the bottom of the slope 100.0m away.

Centred at NX 19506185, to the N and W of these enclosures, is an area of about twenty clearance cairns together with later field walls and circular structures. There is no sign of any field walls or lynchets contemporary with the clearance.

Visited by OS (BS) 10 May 1976

There are four hut-circles and extensive evidence of stone clearance spread over a distance of 500m on the S flank of Gleniron Fell.

i) NX 1931 6174 This hut-circle is situated on the crest of a low spu r 300m SSE of Mirren's Croft. It measures 8.5m in diameter within a bank of large boulders 2.3m in thickness by 0.3m in height. Around the entrance, which is on the ESE, there is a roughly rectangular enclosure, measuring 5.2m by 4.5m internally, with an entrance on the SW adjacent to the bank of the hut-circle.

ii) NX 1952 6180 This hut-circle, which lies 210m ENE of (i) measures 7m in diameter within a bank of rubble up to 1.9m in thickness by 0.4m in height; the entrance is on the SE.

iii) NX 1955 6181 This hut-circle lies 20m E of (ii) and measures 9.2m in diameter within a massively constructed wall at least 1.7m in thickness and 0.5m in height. In places the wall is spread up to 3m in thickness, but occasional fragments of both wall-faces are visible and the entrance on the SE is notable for the three massive external facing-stones on it's E side.

iv) NX 1958 6179 About 20m to the SE of (iii) on the edge of a steep scarp there is an oval platform measuring 9.4m from NE to SW by 8.5m transversely. The front of the platform (the SE) forms a stony scarp about 0.6m in height, and elsewhere it is enclosed by a bank of large boulders.

The clearance heaps on the hillside vary from cairns and bank to massive spreads of stones; around the hut-circles towards the E there are a series of stony banks and scarps and several cleared plots can be identified.

RCAHMS 1987, visited (SH) June 1986.