Loch Of Yarrows

ND34SW 44 30896 42869.

(ND 3089 4285) A hut circle with a contiguous small circle, and to the N, a small enclosure connected to the hut by a bank.

The hut circle, lying on a slight knoll, is oval in plan with interior diameters of 17' and 21', and has been entered from the S. The interior has been excavated so that the floor is slightly below the natural ground level and the enclosing bank, about 2' high and about 7' broad, has been lined in the interior with large slabs set on end. Immediately to the left of the entrance in the interior is a recess in the bank, lined with stones measuring 3' in diameter either way.

The small circle is attached to the W side of the hut and appears to have been entered from the SSW through a passage 7' long. The internal diameter is about 7', and against the inside of the E wall, are two slabs, set on edge and at right angles to each other, 2' long by 1'8" high and 3" thick.

The small oval enclosure lying 31' to the N measures 6' by 7' internally and appears to have been entered from the W. Here also the floor had been excavated to a slightly lower level than the natural surface, and the face of the bank lined with stones.

The bank or wall which curves from the front of this enclosure to the W side of the hut circle is visible in outline.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910.

A hut circle levelled into a S-facing slope and visible as a hollow with a surrounding wall largely obscured by peat. Several slabs on edge of the inner face are visible in the E and W giving an internal diameter of 5.5m but the transverse diameter cannot be ascertained. The entrance in the S is ill-defined. No outer facing stones are evident. The alleged recess is too overgrown with peat and may be a misinterpretation of tumble.

Against the outside of the wall are the two upright slabs at right angles to each other described by the RCAHMS, but all that can be seen of their alleged contiguous small circle are a few stones protruding through the peat forming no intelligible pattern. 10.0m to the SW of the hut are several slabs on edge forming no intelligible pattern.

12.0m to the N of the hut is a stony hollow 3.0m in diameter described by the RCAHMS as a "small oval enclosure lined with stones", but this looks simply to be a quarry hole, possibly into an extension of a peat covered wall spread to 2.5m leading to the W from it. This wall is probably contemporary with the hut but its purpose is uncertain though it is possible that it forms the N wall of an enclosure about 16.0m E-W by 6.0m transversely but generally obscured by peat. On level ground 20.0m to the SE of the hut is the vague outline of another probable hut defined by a circular bank of peat spread to 2.0m wide measuring 7.0m between its centres and entirely obliterated in the S.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (I S S) 14 March 1972.

(Centred ND 309 428) Settlement (NR) (See also ND34SW 45 and ND34SW 51 )

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)

Surveyed at 1:1000.

K Sabine 1980.

Scheduled with hut-circles ND34SW 45 and ND34SW 51.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 29 October 1999.

This hut-circle is situated on the S side of a low, heather-grown rise about 450m SE of South Yarrows farmsteading (ND34SW 474); it lies immediately E of an extensive boggy area S of Loch of Yarrows and measures 9.2m from N to S by 8.7m transversely within a wall reduced to a stony bank 1.8m in thickness and 0.3m in height. There is an entrance on the S, and two slabs are set upright at right-angles to one another near to the outer edge of the bank on the W.

In addition to the hut-circle, a small, subrectangular enclosure lies about 5m SW, and a second, larger, enclosure 10m NW. The former measures about 5.6m from E to W by 5.3m transversely over a wall of stones and edge-set slabs that stands up to 0.7m in height on the E. The latter, which is U-shaped on plan and open to the E, measures about 17m from E to W by 9m transversely within a low stony bank. What may be a disused quarry is visible 7m N of the hut-circle. Now obscured by heather-grown peat, it comprises an oval hollow, which is open to the SW and measures about 3.5m from NE to SW by 3.2m transversely.

(YARROWS04 221)

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 29 June 2004