Rinsary

ND12SW 5 1127 2385.

ND 1127 2385. Situated on a knoll in arable land, about 500m WNW of Rinsary, are the remains of a double-ditched enclosure. A shallow gully flanks it on the NW, and a small stream on the SE.

A causeway, 5.2m broad, crosses the ditches on the E side. These ditches do not appear to be palisade trenches, being 2 to 3m wide by 0.2m deep, and enclose a central area measuring some 24m E-W by 18.5m transversely. Within the enclosure and on the highest part of the knoll, are traces of a ring-groove hut circle, 7.0m in diameter, the trench being 0.4m wide by 0.1m deep. Some 5.0m beyond the main ditches, on the S and E, are traces of a palisade trence 0.4m wide by 0.1m deep, with an appropriate break at the causewayed entrance, and widening into an evident ditch towards the gully on the W.

Visible on RAF air photographs CPE/Scot/UK 179: 1308-9.

Visited by OS (J L D) 15 June 1960.

(ND 1127 2385) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map, (1964)

Generally as described by previous OS field surveyor, except that only a small portion of the ring-ditch hut on its SE quadrant is now evident; and no trace can now be seen of the palisade trench between the short stretch of ditch close by the gully and another similar ditch beside the entrance.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (R L) 7 March 1968.

(ND 1127 2385) Homestead (NR)

OS 25" map, (1969)

Situated on the summit of a glacial knoll in what is essentially a non-defensive position are the remains of a double-ditched enclosure. It is generally as described by previous OS field surveyor (R L), except that there is some doubt as to the authenticity of the ring-groove hut. The groove does not form a regular curving circle, and it encloses a mounded area 0.2m high. There is no trace of banks or stone-built ramparts associated with the ditches, and it may therefore have been a palisaded enclosure; as such it would be unique in Caithness. It is almost certainly some form of homestead.

Visited by OS (N K B) 24 March 1983.