Description

The monument comprises the remains of a hut circle with an annexe, visible as upstanding walls located on the highest point of a low ridge at 290m above sea level. The hut circle is likely to be Late Bronze Age or Iron Age, dating to the first or second millennium BC.

The monument is marked on the 1:10000 Ordnance Survey map and consists of a circular stone bank measuring 9m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to approximately 3m thick. The S arc includes some outer facing stones and a natural boulder. The entrance is in the E. Attached to the SW arc is a rectangular annexe measuring 7.5m by about 3.5m.

The area proposed for scheduling is circular on plan, to include the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to be found, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's archaeological significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic Characteristics: The monument is a well-preserved example of a later prehistoric roundhouse with upstanding remains dating to the first or second millennium BC. The monument retains well-constructed drystone walls, with some facing stones still evident. Given the site's current use as pastureland, it is likely that archaeologically significant deposits relating to construction, use and abandonment of the structures remains in place. In addition, it is likely that deposits survive that could provide data relating to the later prehistoric environment.

The site has considerable potential to enhance our understanding of later prehistoric roundhouses and the daily lives of the people who occupied them. The presence of an annexe to the hut circle enhances the hut circle's potential to provide insights into changing use of domestic space during the later prehistoric period.

Contextual characteristics: The monument is a good representative of a rare class; while many hut circles are known in the Inverness area, very few exhibit evidence for an annexe. Several other hut circle sites lie within 1km of this monument and together these elements have the potential to provide a better understanding of how later prehistoric society was structured.

The hut circle lies at the SW end of a system of fields marked by stone clearance heaps and occasional lynchets, and faces onto a field measuring about 30m by 20m. At the NE end of the main ridge the fields end on a ruinous wall that continues intermittently along the SE slopes. These features may well be contemporary and therefore enhance the potential to understand the agricultural context of domestic activity on the site.

National Importance:

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular Bronze or Iron Age society, and the nature of Iron-Age domestic practice. This potential is enhanced by its good preservation and the survival of marked field characteristics. The loss of the example would significantly impede our ability to understand the Iron Age in northern Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the monument as NH62SW2; Highland Council SMR as NH62SW0002.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland