Description

The monument comprises the remains of a large group of peat stores and several huts and buildings, dating probably from the 17th and 18th centuries. The structures are aligned along several embanked and braided trackways which run across open moorland to the NE of Meall Odhar.

There are around ninety peat stores, and fragments of several others, situated by the sides of several braided trackways. The stores comprise subrectangular enclosures, defined by low rubble walls that are in most cases little more than lines of stones. Most of them are built on sloping ground with the upslope end left open.

They range in length from 1.2m to 12.2m internally and in width from 1m to 2.2m internally, although the great majority measure between 3.5m and 8.5m in length and between 1.2m and 1.8m in width. A number of variations in form were noted amongst the structures, including walls of uneven length, later extensions, subdivisions and phases of rebuilding.

Finally, there are mounds of peat at three stores: in one case a roughly square mound measuring 1.5m by 1.5m and 0.2m in height lies immediately outside the open end; in another there is a low mound in the lower end of the store; and the last comprises a low subrectangular mound of peat, edged with stone footings along its E side and at its S end.

Set into the bottom of a secluded, narrow burn gully to the NE of Meall Odhar, at NN 663 405, there is a subrectangular structure which may be the site of an illicit still. It measures 3.7m from NW to SE by 2.8m transversely, within walls reduced to stony banks 0.8m in thickness, except the SW side wall, which comprises a stone revetment 1m in height against the base of the gully. There is no visible entrance, though it was probably on the NE side, facing the burn. There is a hollow in the centre of the interior.

In addition, situated in and around the peat stores, there are the remains of several huts and buildings. Two grassy mounds above the NE bank of an unnamed burn, about 120m above the head-dyke to the NW of Cuiltrannich and situated at NN 666 404, are probably the remains of a pair of huts.

The remains of two further small huts are situated at NN 664 401. There is also a subrectangular turf-walled building on a level shelf about 35m above the head-dyke of Ben Lawers Farm, situated at NN 665 402. It measures 7m from N to S by 2.4m transversely, within the fragmentary remains of walls spread to 1m in thickness and standing no more than 0.3m high.

The area to be scheduled encompasses the visible features and the area around and between them within which related remains may be expected to survive. It is irregular on plan with maximum dimensions of 780m from NE to SW by 660m transversely, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the social and economic conditions of the 17th and 18th centuries in rural location. Its importance is enhanced by its association with contemporary structures which survive in excellent condition in the wider landscape, and with the fine collection of contemporary plans and documents in the Breadalbane Muniments.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NN 64 SE 13.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland