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Strath Halladale
Burial Cairn (Prehistoric)(Possible), Cairnfield (Prehistoric), Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Strath Halladale
Classification Burial Cairn (Prehistoric)(Possible), Cairnfield (Prehistoric), Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 6908
Site Number NC86SE 3
NGR NC 8993 6360
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/6908
- Council Highland
- Parish Farr
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NC86SE 3 899 636.
(NC 8995 6363) Hut Circles (NR) (NC 8995 6353) Enclosure (NR) - 'A'.
OS 6"map, (1964)
A settlement of four stone-walled huts (A - D) with a few stone clearance heaps (most evident to the W) and several other structures of uncertain date.
'A' [NC 8994 6353] measures 13.5m in diameter within a well-preserved boulder-faced wall averaging 1.6m thick. The entrance in the SW, of which only the NW side is preserved, faces into a probably contemporary stone-walled enclosure adjoining the W arc. There are traces of at least one later rect- angular building within the hut. Abutting on the E arc of the hut is an elongated structure measuring 16.0m long by a maximum of 5.5m wide in the N narrowing to 3.5m in the S. Outside the N arc are traces of two or three small stone structures of uncertain plan and date.
'B' [NC 8994 6360], is oval measuring 10.5m NW-SE by 8.5m transversely within a mutilated wall spread to 2.5m. There are two turf-covered heaps of stones in the interior.
'C' [NC 8993 6364] can scarcely be recognised as a hut. It survives as a grassy, hummocky area some 12.0m in diameter edged by traces of a wall and occupied within by denuded later constructions of uncertain plan. Immediately N is an ill-defined rectangular structure 19.5m by 7.0m with bowed walls and rounded ends (? long house). A similar found- ation, 14.0m by 7.0m, lies to the SW.
'D' [NC 8997 6364] is 6.0m NNW-SSE by 4.0m within a wall obscured by peat. It has an ill-defined entrance in the SSE.
At NC 8981 6356 ('E') on a rise on the W edge of the area of clearance heaps, is a mound about 7.0m in diameter and 0.4m high whose position suggests it may be a cairn rather than a clearance heap.
Surveyed at 1:2500 (OS {A A} 1 November 1972)
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909; Visited by OS (W D J) 5 May 1960 and (A A) 1 November 1972.
Field Visit (29 September 1909)
On the top of the bank, across the burn, and some 300 yards NNE of the enclosure with the mound in the centre [see NC86SE 6], is a large circular enclosure, with walls 4' to 6' thick, and an interior diameter of 43'. It appears to have had several smaller constructions in the interior, and adjoining it on the exterior to the N. Some 80 yards N of the last is a hut circle, overgrown with ferns, and showing signs of ruins in the interior, but the details are obscure. About 30 yards further N are the remains of another hut circle, also indistinct. This construction seems to have been composed of four or five small circular compartments, from 5' to 8' in diameter. Adjoining it on the N is a small oval enclosure, measuring 40' x 20',the outer wall of which is continued round to the N. of the hut construction. Some 40' or thereby to the W. is another small enclosure of simple form, the banks of which are much worn down. It has been entered from the S, and has an interior diameter of from 15' to 20'.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 29 September 1909.
OS 6” map unnoted
Field Visit (30 August 1977)
This settlement is generally as described above. Huts B and D are oval and of simple form, but A and C are more complex, each with an associated enclosure or partial enclosure formed by a single line of boulders on edge abutting the W side. A field, 35.0m by 26.0m, bounded by a wall of boulder construction occurs 40.0m NE of hut 'A'. The amorphous 'rectangular building' within A must be considered later, but the date and purpose of the sub-rectangular structures adjacent to A and C, or their association with the huts, remains unclear. They are less well-defined than the huts; the walls are at best 0.5m high with no trace of facing-stones. The suggestion that they may be long-houses is valid.
The possible cairn at NC 8981 6356 is as described. The ground around the huts is relatively smooth suggesting former cultivation, but no measurable field plots apart from the aforementioned field are discernible
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 30 August 1977
Field Visit (29 July 1981)
'A' [at NC 8994 6353] does not resemble a dun; the quality and quantity of material remaining does not indicate a wall of massive proportions and the situation is non-defensive. However, it differs from hut circles B - D of this site, and other huts in the Highlands, in that it is unusually large and well-preserved, with both wall-faces exposed around most of the circumference, yet the wall is thin in relation to the internal diameter and it does not display the splayed or bulbous entrance of the complex hut circle typified by the excavated hut V and Kilphedir (NC91NE 25). The site is difficult to interpret due to the intrusion of other structures some of which are probably of fairly recent date, but it appears to be some form of round-house of prehistoric date.
Visited by OS (N K B) 29 July 1981.
