Caolas

NC60NE 15.00 6772 0586

NC60NE 15.01 NC 6775 0585 Caolas Kerbed Cairn

NC60NE 15.02 NC 6779 0575 Caolas Hut-circle

NC60NE 15.03 NC 6793 0560 Caolas Hut-circle

NC60NE 15.04 NC 6800 0540 Caolas Hut-circle

The remains of this township are located on the hillside to the SW of the Abhainn Leataidh. The site is bounded on the W by a head-dyke, and on the NE by the river; the SE boundary is less obvious, but assuming that an unnamed burn divided the township from Achadh a' Choirce, its neighbour to the SE, the area enclosed amounts to about 28ha. Much of this enclosed terrain is either boggy or steep and rocky, but there are areas of drier ground where most structures are located. Seven buildings were recorded, along with six huts, two corn-drying kilns several small enclosures and areas of rig cultivation. A burial cairn and two hut circles in this area, and a third hut-circle just beyond the head-dyke, are described separately (NC60NE 15.01- 15.04).

Most of the buildings measure internally between 7.6m and 13.5m in length and between 2.3m and 4.1m in breadth; two buildings, however are much longer, measuring internally 18.2m by 3.1m (NC 6772 0586, ROG95 670) and 24.7m by 3m (NC 6791 0556, ROG95 676). The walls of most of them survive as faced-rubble footings up to 0.8m thick, but two examples (ROG95 669 and 671) appear to be largely turf built (although the first of these has a stone-built ENE end wall). Several buildings have outshots and one (ROG95 670) has a bedneuk projecting from one side. The four larger buildings (ROG95 667, 669, 670 and 676) are all divided into two compartments and one of these (ROG95 676) has a byre drain in its lower (ENE) compartment. One building (ROG95 670) has a midden scoop just outside its entrance. Apart from the differences in building materials noted above, there is some evidence that these buildings do not represent a single episode of settlement: an earlier building extends 7.1m beyond the ENE end of one (ROG95 670), a hut has been built over the S end of another (ROG95 667) while the head-dyke (presumably contemporary with most of the recorded structures) abuts a bow-sided building on the SW edge of the site at NC 6780 0550 (NC 6780 0550, ROG95 675).

The six huts (including that built over building ROG95 667) are disposed between and around the buildings. They measure between 4.4m and 7.2m in length and between 2.2m and 3.2m in breadth within walls which in most instances are reduced to spread stony banks. The two corn-drying kilns are situated at NC 6782 0576 (ROG95 674) and at NC 6793 0555 (ROG95 677). The first of these stands a short distance to the S of the main concentration of buildings, set into a slope on the edge of an area of rig cultivation. It has a stone-faced bowl measuring 1.8m in diameter and 1.4m in depth, and it has an attached barn on the SE, measuring internally 6.5m by 3.2m with an entrance in its SW side. The other kiln, about 250m to the SE, stands next to the longest building in the township (ROG95 676), and it is possible that the two structures together formed a self-contained farmstead. This kiln is unlike the others recorded in the townships in this area: the bowl is square, with sides 1.1m long, and rather than have a barn appended to it, as is normally the case, it is set into the S end of a rectangular building measuring internally 7.6m by 2.9m with an entrance in each side, opposite one another.

Around these structures there are several small enclosures, some attached to buildings, and several areas of rig cultivation, the rigs measuring up to about 5m in breadth, usually with a flattened profile.

The 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1879, sheets xcv, xcvi) names this site and depicts parts of the head-dyke, several small enclosures and four roofless buildings (ROG95 667, 669, 671 and 676. The ONB describes Caolas as 'a small piece of pasture land'.

(ROG95 663-4, 666-72, 674-7, 679)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 19 June 1995

Name Book 1879