Description

The monument comprises an iregular oval enclosure which represents the remains of a small settlement of unusual form and uncertain date. It is most probably medieval in date.

The enclosure lies on flat ground at the head of Loch Assynt, just outside the wall of the churchyard at Inchnadamph Parish Church. It comprises a low platform about 40m by 27m within a low bank and ditch. The ditch is about 5m across and is largely silted up.

It probably formed a quarry for the platform and for a slight external bank, now spread to about 4m across. A causeway crosses the bank and ditch on the E side, and appears to be the original entrance. Two other breaks in the bank, on the NE and SE,are probably more recent.

This is a rare form of monument in the Highlands, but if it were located in more southerly or easterly parts of Scotland would probably be classified as a homestead moat of medieval date.

The area to be scheduled is a circle 80m across, to include the enclosure and a small area around it in which evidence relating to its construction and use may survive. It is marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as an example of an unusual form of settlement, quite dissimilar to the normal categories of enclosed settlement found in Highland Scotland. Although its date and affinities are obscure, it has a high potential to provide information about the late prehistoric or, more probably, medieval settlement construction and economy.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NC 22 SW 6.

RCAHMS (1911) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Second report and inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Sutherland, Edinburgh, 6fn, No. 18.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland