Torrish Burn

NC91NE 11 9657 1902.

(NC 9653 1902) Enclosures (NR)

OS 6" map, 1964.

About 1/4 mile N of the junction of the Torrish Burn with the Helmsdale River is a line of stones running in an easterly direction from the SW corner of an elliptical enclosure, for a distance of 44' 3", and parallel to it or slightly converging towards the E, at a distance of about 5', is a similar row. In the former row are nine stones, and in the latter, eight. The stones resemble in size those in the similar settings on Learable Hill (NC82SE 6), and are placed with their broad faces in line. The highest are about 2' high, while some of the others now merely protrude above the ground.

The elliptical enclosure is on a slight elevation and its longer dimension is on a ENE-WSW axis.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

The stone rows and the elliptical (at corrected plan position NC 9657 1902) enclosure, are generally as described and illustrated by RCAHMS.

Visited by OS (W D J) 14 May 1960.

The stone rows are on the inclined approach to the enclosure and towards that end the pattern is less definitive; the two most westerly stones in the N row could not be identified with certainty, and it would appear at this point, anyway, that the enclosure would overlay or destroy the row. The setting is not impressive, and the significance is speculative.

The enclosure is 7.5m by 4.5m overall. The wall stands to approximately 0.2m from the outside, at about present level of the peat-silted interior, and is seen as a partially-overgrown band of small to medium stones with no coursing or facing slabs indicated; the wall seems to have been less than 1.0m in width. The purpose of the enclosure is uncertain; the dimensions would accord with a shieling type structure but the deterioration suggests an earlier date.

An association between the stone rows and the enclosure is unlikely.

Resurveyed at 1:10,560.

Visited by OS (J M) 29 April 1976.