Berriedale Water

ND12NW 4 1083 2561 and 1092 2569

(A: ND 1083 2561; B: ND 1092 2569) Mounds (NR)

OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1908)

A: Perched on the top of the S bank of the Allt Ardachaidh, near its junction with the Berriedale Water is a cairn measuring 38ft in diameter and 5ft high.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910

'A' is a large cairn, 15.0m in diameter and 1.5m high.

'B', 110m to the NE, on the opposite bank of the Allt Ardachaidh, is a large, mutilated and irregularly-shaped earth-and-stone mound covered with bracken. It measures some 27m N-S by 20m transversely, with a maximum height of 2.0m. The mound has been extensively robbed, the interior being almost cleared out to form a sheepfold.

A number of deserted building foundations exist immediately N of this mound; which would appear to be undoubtedly the remains of a burial cairn.

Visited by OS (W D J) 21 June 1960.

(A: ND 1083 2561; B: ND 1092 2569) Cairns (NR)

OS 6" map, (1965)

Cairn 'A' is 10.5m in diameter and 1.3m high; it is largely heather-covered, but some rubble stones are exposed.

There are insufficient remains of 'B' to indicate that it is a cairn. All that can be seen is an early-modern enclosure wall situated on a natural spur within bracken-infested pasture. The interior of the enclosure is relatively clear of stones, and is at the same level as the pasture to the NW; in the SE arc is a scarp about 1.5m high on which is stone tumbled from the enclosure, and some early-modern field clearance.

Revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (N K B) 10 November 1982.