Torridon, Alligin Shuas
Corn Drying Kiln (Period Unassigned), Cruck Framed Building (Post Medieval), Head Dyke (Post Medieval), Roundhouse (Prehistoric), Township (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Torridon, Alligin Shuas
Classification Corn Drying Kiln (Period Unassigned), Cruck Framed Building (Post Medieval), Head Dyke (Post Medieval), Roundhouse (Prehistoric), Township (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Braigh Alligin; Torran Nan Tiodhlacaidh
Canmore ID 80949
Site Number NG85NW 4
NGR NG 83015 57833
NGR Description centred on NG 831 578
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/80949
- Council Highland
- Parish Applecross
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NG85NW 4 centred on 831 578
8332 5783: Small corn-drying kiln deserted settlement. (No details given.)
M MacDonald 1992.
A township comprising sixty-four roofed, three partially roofed and eighteen unroofed buildings, eighteen enclosures, some field walls and parts of a head-dyke is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire 1881, sheet lxxxi). One of the unroofed buildings is situated in an area marked as an Infants Burying Gound which was "formerly used as a burying place for infants under one year." (Name Book). Twenty-seven roofed, thirty-three unroofed buildings, several enclosures, some field walls and parts of a head-dyke are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1971).
Name Book 1881
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 24 April 1996
NG 834 582 The site name (Torran nam Tiodhlacaidh) means 'the little mound of the burial', and is one of a group of mounds around Loch Torridon which are associated locally with the burial of unbaptised infants. Such a mound was the subject of a rescue excavation in the 1970s at Shieldaig, and was dated to the Bronze Age.
M Macdonald 1995.
NG 8318 5768 Cruck slots still survive within this ruinous building.
J Wordsworth 1995.
An archaeological and historical assessment of the NTS Torridon Estate has been carried out intermittently over the past two years.
NG 829 579 ?Roundhouse. On the hillside above Glachacro are two rectangular buildings presumed to date to the last century. In the flat area between them are the possible remains of a roundhouse. Short lengths of curving wall are evident which, had the structure been complete, could have been part of a circular structure c 10m in diameter over walls c 0.2?0.3m high, spread to 1m.
Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland.
J Harden and J Wordsworth 1998
Field Visit (1996 - 1988)
This area is bounded by the road down to Wester Alligin to the E, the burn to the W, and the old head dyke to the S. It includes two crofthouses - Glachacro (45) and Midwest (46) and an old crofthouse (TOR189c) now overshadowed by a large agricultural shed (also 46?). The area has roofed buildings shown on the 1837 estate map.
189a NG82975779
189b NG82995776 Marked on the OS map this structure with its yard is immediately N of the old head dyke and below the track/new 'road' through to Camustrol. Aligned WNW-ESE, the truncated yard is currently used as a timber store but the slight remains of the rectangular structure are c11m by c4.5m over walls c0.6m thick. An entrance is in the W side of the S wall.
189c NG82975782 Marked on the OS map this crofthouse aligned NNW-SSE is a classic late-19th century one-and-a-half storey building with two flues in each gable.
189d NG82995785 (MM C5) A rectangular, clay-mortared, unroofed crofthouse, aligned N-S, surviving to its wallheads and full gable height at the N end. It is c9m by c 5m over walls c0.7m thick. A central entrance in its W wall is flanked by two windows. Abutting the S gable is an extension slightly narrower than the house MM identifies this as the byre), with an entrance against the house gable wall. It is c4m by c4m with its S gable still standing to almost full height. There is a tree growing in each part of this building.
189e NG83045784 (MM C6) A rectangular unroofed structure, its NW gable surviving to full height, the other walls standing to only c 1.2m. It is aligned NW-SE and measures c8m by c4m over walls c0.6m thick, with an internal dividing wall. There appear to be two openings in the front wall and a possible entrance between the two 'rooms' at the rear of the dividing wall. Some 5m to the SW are the vestigial remains of a structure of slightly smaller size defined by boulders sticking through the turf , which is marked on the 2nd ed OS map.
189f NG83015792 (MM C4) A pitched roofed rectangular structure is still in use, which is sited on an earlier structure.
189g NG83045793 (MM C3) The slight remains of a rectangular structure, aligned NNE-SSW, is c10m by c4.5m over walls c0.7m thick and c0.3m high. Its S end has been rebuilt into a structure c3m by c1.5m over walls c0.4m thick and still standing up to c1m high.
189h NG83095795 An enclosure is marked on the OS map with maximum dimension c13m over walls spread to c0.8m and c0.7m high. A telegraph pole is sited in its interior.
189j NG83075777 (MM C8) Immediately below the road by the passing place are the slighted remains of a rectangular structure, aligned NW-SE, is c10m by c4.5m which until recently was the stance for a caravan site.
TOR96 189
