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Coille Poll Na H-airde
Cairnfield (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Coille Poll Na H-airde
Classification Cairnfield (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 14677
Site Number NH78NW 7
NGR NH 7117 8787
NGR Description From NH 7117 8787 to NH 7157 8804
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/14677
- Council Highland
- Parish Creich (Sutherland)
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NH78NW 7 7117 8787 to 7157 8804.
(A: NH 7152 8800) Enclosure (NR) (B: NH 7134 8788) Enclosure (NR)
OS 25" map, (1969)
(Centred NH 715 879) Cairns (NR)
OS 6" map, (1969)
Two stone-walled huts (A and B), on a wooded plateau.
Hut 'A' is completely overgrown with whin so that no details can be seen. According to the RCAHMS (1911), it measures 27ft by 31ft within a bank 5ft to 6ft wide, with its entrance from the SE.
Hut 'B', obscured by fallen trees, is oval, measuring some 15.0m WNW-ESE by 13.0m transversely between the centres of a wall spread to about 2.5m all round. There is an ill-defined break in the ESE arc, probably the entrance.
About 50m N of the hut is an elongated mound, described by the RCAHMS as measuring 49ft by 15ft. It is probably a linear clearance heap. There are several stone clearance heaps in the wood, probably from cultivation plots contemporary with the huts. Two of these are described as mounds by the RCAHMS.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909; Visited by OS (N K B) 24 October 1969.
In conifer woodland on a raised beach level is a settlement of three turf-covered hut circles (A - C), accompanied by some heaps of field clearance, the latter mainly in the region of huts 'A' and 'C'. 'A' and 'B' are published, "C' is located at NH 7157 8800.
'A' meaures 10.0m by 8.5m over a wall reduced to a rubble spread 2.0m to 2.5m broad and up to 0.5m high. The entrance is in the SE, on the line of the long axis.
'B' measures 13.5m by 11.5m within a rubble wall spread to 2.5m broad and 0.3m high. A depression in the SE, on the line of the long axis, may indicate the entrance. The hut has been planted over with trees.
'C', levelled back into the slope, measures 11.0m by 9.5m within a wall reduced to a rubble spread some 3.0m broad and 0.5m high. The entrance is in the SE on the line of the long axis. The E arc of the hut has been incorporated in the line of an old plantation bank.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (J M) 18 September 1980.
Field Visit (23 July 1909)
59. Coille Poll na h-Airde.
In the Coille Poll na h-Airde, the wood which lies to the N. of Newton Point on the Dornoch Firth, are many hut circles and mounds.
Some 200 yards NE. of the pier is a hut circle of ordinary oval or pear-shaped form, with its entrance from the SE. measuring interiorly 39' X 45'. The entrance is some 7' across, but there is a tree stump in the middle of it rendering its original dimensions uncertain.
Some 30 yards NNW. of the last is a long low' mound, overgrown with blaeberries, lying NNW. and SSE., measuring 49' x 15', and about 2' high. Its character is uncertain without excavation.
Some 50 yards E. of the hut circle is a mound lying E. and W., measuring 22' x 15'.
Another mound about 100 yards E. of the circle is circular, with a diameter of about 22'.
The hut circle noted on the O.S. map about ¼ m. NE. of the end of Newton Point is of the ordinary form, with its entrance from the SE. about 2' across. The interior measurement is 27' x 31' and the bank is from 5' to 6' wide. A number of small round mounds lie in its vicinity.
On the N. side of the clearing, near the centre of the wood, is a mound lying N. and S., measuring 22' x 12', and some 3' in height.
About 50 yards N. are the remains of a hut circle.
OS 6-inch map: Sutherland Sheet cxii.
RCAHMS 1911, Visited (AOC), 23rd July 1909.
