Stonifield House

NH64NE 155 6917 4535

A number of sites have been reported after private flights carried out in 1996.

Stoneyfield House (Inverness & Bona parish)

NH 692 454 Cropmark of a series of four ring-ditches c 15m in diameter, 20m N of railway. One has narrow outer ditch. Suggestion of internal pits - possible round barrows.

J S Bone 1996

NH 6920 4540 Iron Age settlement. An evaluation, consisting of a programme of geophysical survey, fieldwalking and trial trenching, was carried out in 1996 on a cropmark area located c 500m S of the Bronze Age cemetery. The results from magnetometry identified several ring-groove structures and possible hearths. Trial work confirmed the presence of intercutting features associated with occupation deposits, post-pits and hearths.

A single substantial trench was opened in 1997 and centred on those features located in 1996. The almost complete circuit of a ring-groove structure, with a diameter of c 22m, was located in the southern central area of the trench. At least one inner ring of post-holes was located concentrically c 4?5 m from this ring-groove. A near-complete bronze brooch, dating to the 2nd century AD, was recovered from this feature. A second ring-ditch extended into the NE area of the trench.

The outlines of at least three complete timber roundhouses were defined by post-holes to the N of the ring-groove. A later iron-smelting hearth overlay part of one structure. Immediately to the W of the ring-groove, an aerial photograph showed evidence of a second circular feature with two concentric but incomplete rings. Excavation revealed this to be a sub-circular spread of habitation deposit. Further pits and post-holes were recorded across the site. Finds consisted of carbonised wood and a few sherds of pottery.

A detailed report has been lodged with the NMRS.

Sponsor: Inverness Retail and Business Park Ltd.

M Cressey, B Finlayson and J Hamilton 1998