Kilphedir
Field System (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Kilphedir
Classification Field System (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Allt Cille Pheadair
Canmore ID 6998
Site Number NC91NE 25
NGR NC 990 193
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/6998
![Publication drawing; plan of 'Hut Circle [A], Allt Cille Pheadair'.](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/l/SC01665103.jpg)
![Publication drawing; plan of 'Hut Circle [A], Allt Cille Pheadair'.](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/s/SC01665103.jpg)
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- Council Highland
- Parish Kildonan
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NC91NE 25 990 193
See also NC91NE 3.
(NC 990 194) (5) Enclosures (NR)
(Undated) annotation on OS map.
A settlement of five hut circles (I-V) excavated by Fairhurst between 1963 and 1968. Two types of huts were distinguished, type I and type II. The first occupation of the site was about 500 BC.
RCAHMS 1911; H Fairhurst 1971; H Fairhurst and D B Taylor 1974.
Each of the four type I huts consisted of a low perimeter wall in which had rested the ends of the rafters of a conical roof supported on a ring of posts half way between the wall and the hut centre. There was no evidence of central posts. In, or near, the centre of each was a hearth. Internal diameters were between 20ft and 40ft. Coarse, generally flat rimmed, pottery was found. Hut V, the only type II hut, was found to incorporate the remnants of one of the earlier type I huts, and was dated to c. 130BC. It had a higher, thicker wall, lined on the inside with slabs, which expanded at the entrance to form a passage 5.0m long. Finds included potsherds of a smoother harder ware, one with an everted rim, a saddle quern, and pounders and rubbing stones.
Contemporary agriculture is evidenced by clearance heaps, and stony banks edging plots. Fairhurst (1971) implies that the clearance cairns were possibly contemporary with the type I huts, and the stony banks with the type II house, suggesting a change in cultivation methods.
E W MacKie 1969; Visited by OS (W D J) 20 May 1960.
This is a settlement of five huts (I-V) in association with a field system as described by Fairhurst.
Re-surveyed at 1:10,560.
Visited by OS (W D J) 20 October 1976.
