Loch Borralie

NC36NE 68 38084 67449.

Oval hut, 12m by 4m, in sub-circular enclosure 15m by 21m.

T C Welsh 1972m.

Early modern house and enclosure footings as described, sub-rectangular rather than oval. Partially turf-covered walls are 0.7m wide and 0.3m average height.

Visited by OS (JB) 28 April 1980.

NC 3807 6745 Archaeological fieldwork carried out in 2004 as part of the Strathnaver Province Viking-Medieval Archaeology Project. The 2004 season focused on the fixed dune grasslands to the west of Loch Borralie, south-west of Durness. The work involved limited geophysical survey, trial trenching of a sub-rectangular structure (46 - at NC 3780 6717) and open-area excavation of a similar structure (89 at NC 3807 6745) set within a fenced-off deflated area. Excavation of site 46 established that it had been largely scoured out in the past by erosion, although a fire spot and some occupation deposits did survive; sherds of coarse pottery from these deposits would suggest that the structure pre-dates the post-Medieval occupation of the area. Excavation of site 89 established that it had a complex structural sequence; its walls had been thickened, and the structure overlay earlier midden deposits that in turn sealed earlier walling. The form of the later structure would suggest a Norse or a late Norse date for it. Further excavation of site 89 is required to fully clarify its character and sequence and to rescue information from deposits before their archaeological integrity is destroyed by burrowing.

O Lelong 2005