Oulmsdale Burn

NC91NE 62 centred 965 180.

Centred on NC 965 180 on a north-facing hillslope is a settlement of three stone-walled hut circles (A-C) in association with a field system. 'A', on the edge of an old stream terrace and exposed, is 6.0m diameter internally; the wall remains as an inner facing of intermittent slabs backed by a low spread of overgrown rubble, and would seem to have been about 1.0m broad. A 2.0m break in the NNE arc indicates an entrance. Huts B and C occupy more sheltered positions and are of much stouter build; both are heavily peat-covered.

'B' is 7.5m E-W by 6.5m inside a wall standing to 0.9m maximum, in the S arc. An entrance from the E, where the wall is 2.2m broad, splays from 1.0m wide to about 1.9m; the wall elsewhere is about 1.3m broad.

'C', set into the slope, is about 8.0m internal diameter. The wall is best defined in the S where it stands to 0.7m and indicates a thickness of 1.6m; elsewhere it is reduced and silted over. A 5.0m break in the E indicates the entrance.

The field system, occupying seven hectares, is best preserved in the southern part. It comprises a moderate density of stone clearance heaps, occasional lynchets and vague traces of field walls, but no distinct cultivation plots can be seen. Outlying scattered clearance mounds occur on the upper slopes to the west.

Surveyed at 1:10,560.

Visited by OS (J M) 6 July 1976.