Loth

NC91SE 3 9764 1117.

There is a Pictish building on the shore below the church (at Loth).

At this spot (Stronrunkie) are the remains of an edifice, resembling the other Pictish buildings in the parish, in which was found some years ago the entire skeleton of a man, who by the size and length of the bones, must have far exceeded in bulk the common standard of the present day. Several deer horns have also been found in digging there. Most of the stones have been used in building the manse, church and a farmhouse.

Statistical Account (OSA) 1793

NC 9768 1114. There is a large amount of stone lying along the top of a small plateau between the railway and the sea just south of Stronerungie. The site is far too indefin- ite for any opinions as to its origin.

Visited by OS (W D J) 27 May 1960.

A suitable situation is at NC 9720 1059 where there is a small hillock of earth and loose stones, extensively quarried, but remains are too amorphous to classify, although suggestive of a broch platform at a distance.

The nomenclature "Pictish building" implies a broch, though the discovery of human bones is noted. There is no local knowledge of the site and its position remains uncertain.

The site at NC 9768 1114 (located by OS field investigator {W D J}) appears to be entirely recent stone clearance and there are no structural remains (in fact little stone at all) in the amorphous mound at NC 9720 1059 (located by OS field investigator [RL]). This mound is threatened by quarrying.

The most suitable situation is at NC 9764 1117 on the SE spur of an isolated hillock, at a point where dry-stone walls make a curious U-shaped detour apparently to avoid an amorphous stony area now with recent stone clearance added. There are a number of large stones here which are suitable for broch construction, but they form no pattern; this is the only place where such stones can be seen. From their configuration the dry-stone walls antedate the railway (about 1870), and are almost certainly contemporary with the farmhouse church and manse mentioned by OSA in 1798.

Visited by OS (N K B) 18 May 1976.