Glen Girnock

NO39SW 6 centred on 322 936

In Glen Garnock, E of the River Dee, a depopulated settlement of longhouses, kailyard, corn-drying kilns and enclosures. Several phases of building are evident. Downslope to the west is a circular stell with a possible earlier feature within and a later feature abutting it. A revetted track and several low field banks are also visible as well as traces of field plots amongst the heather.

I Shepherd and A E Woodward 1989d

(Location cited as NO 323 935 and name as Lynhort or Linquoich). Air photography and field survey have recorded a settlement on a series of glacial knolls in an area of rough pasture at an altitude of 300m OD. A considerable chronological depth is apparent on the core settlement-mound.

To the N of the main burn are the footings of a longhouse, with the faint remains of a kailyard to its N, both sitting on an artifically-raised platform or ridge (c. 12 x 10m). The main green mound to the S of the burn contains (from N to S): a corn-drying kiln set into an E-facing slope; the footings of a substantial rectangular building which has been progressively shortened (its final phase consisting of a gabled bothy); (to its W) the footings of an early longhouse (just visible), measuring up to c. 12m N-S by 3.5m E-W; a rectangular stock enclosure; and, an extremely long and narrow longhouse with an annex almost as long. Downslope to the W are a circular stell with a possible earlier feature within and a later feature abutting it. A substantial revetted track runs along the W side of the mound and another track can be discerned at a slightly higher level.

The heather-covered mound to the S is surmounted by a sub-square turf-banked enclosure (very fugitive) measuring 8 x 4m, while across the little E-W burn to its S is another knoll capped with (very) low banks running E-W, and a square field-plot defined by corner boulders. The southernmost feature is a quarry-pit indicated by a low grassy mound adjacent to a scoop measuring about 4m E-W over all.

On the improved ridge to the W may be seen the faint traces of E-W aligned depressions which have possibly been robbed or ploughed-out. These are possibly field boundaries linked with the low banks on the southern heathery mound.

There is a large oval enclosure to the N (NO 320 932).

[Air photographic imagery: BKS NO39W 2649016, flown 1976; AAS/88/12/S20/13-16 and AAS/88/12/S21/1-14, flown 22 November 1988).

NMRS, MS/712/36, visited 12 and 28 September 1988

A township comprising eight unroofed buildings, one of which is a long building, one partially roofed building, three enclosures, one of which is incomplete, and a lime kiln are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1869, sheet xci). Seven unroofed buildings and three enclosures are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1972).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 30 March 1999