Cnoc An Ratha

ND05NE 2.01 0522 5773.

(ND 0522 5773) Supposed Remains of (NAT)

Watch Tower (NR)

OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)

Within the interior of the fort (ND05NE 2) at the SW angle, some 15ft back from the wall, are the remains of an enclosure, some 25ft in diameter over all, with an entrance in the SE. In the interior the wall is visible for a height of about 1 1/2ft and suggests a 'bee-hive' structure. There appear to be two small chambers, about 5ft in diameter, to the right and left of the end of the entrance passage, but the plan is not clear.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910

This structure has been adequately described by the RCAHM, and the internal wall (1.8m diameter at base) does tend to corbel upwards. The thickness of the enclosing wall at base is 3.2m; it is 0.6m high. It could be a 'bee-hive' hut, although it is not unlike small kilns seen elsewhere.

Visited by OS (J L D) 10 April 1962.

(ND 0522 5773) Undescribed circular feature shown.

OS 6" map, (1963)

This does not appear to be an enclosure but rather a heather-covered cairn, 8.0m NW-SE by 7.0m transversely and 0.6m high, although badly mutilated by forestry ploughing. There is a trench extending through the SW sector to a central excavation hollow, in the sides of which slabs laid flat are exposed. This does not appear to be the remains of a corbelled wall as suggested by the RCAHMS, but core material exposed in the later digging.

Revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (N K B) 15 September 1981.