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Blairmore

Field System (Prehistoric), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)

Site Name Blairmore

Classification Field System (Prehistoric), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)

Canmore ID 6006

Site Number NC70SW 6

NGR NC 7465 0421

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/6006

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Rogart
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Sutherland
  • Former County Sutherland

Archaeology Notes

NC70SW 6 7465 0421

(Centred NC 746 042) Tumuli (NR) : Hut Circle (NR)

OS 6"map, Sutherland, 2nd ed., (1907)

On the N slope of a low hill at Blairmore, is a large group of small mounds.

Some 100 yards NE of the hill are the remains of a hut circle of the ordinary character with entrance from the SE, and a group of ten or twelve mounds lying near. One mound lies directly opposite the entrance and within 20ft of it. Some 30ft SW of the entrance is a long low mound lying N-S, measuring 27ft by 16ft tapering towards each end, and 2 1/2ft high. About 40ft S is another, not quite so high, lying N-S and measuring 22ft by 9ft.

On the E flank of the hill are a further two hut circles. The larger of the two measures 33ft by 34ft internally, with entrance, 4ft across, from the SE. Some 30ft S is another hut circle measuring 18ft by 15ft internally with entrance, 3 1/2ft wide, in the SE. In both huts the banks, 6ft to 8ft across and some 3 1/2ft high, project to flank the entrances on the NE.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

Three hut circles (A, B and C) and an associated field system. Huts A and B are as described by the RCAHMS.

Hut 'C' (probably the first mentioned) is 9.0m in diameter internally, with a turf-covered wall 4.0m thick and 1.0m high. The entrance, 1.0m wide, is in the SE.

The field system, approximately 160m NW-SE by 90m transversely, is delimited by lynchets, field banks, and clearance heaps.

Hut circles surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 15 February 1966.

(NC 746 042) Settlement (NR) (Three hut circles, A-C)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)

On the E flank of a hill is a settlement of three hut circles (A-C) accompanied by a field system.

'A', heather-covered, measures 11.0m in diameter inside a collapsed wall 0.6m high with a general spread of 3.0m expanding to 4.0m in the sides of a slubbed entrance in the SE.

'B', set into the slope and completely heather-blanketed, measures 5.0m in diameter within a wall spread to 2.5m on average and up to 0.5m high; the entrance is in the SE.

'C', levelled back into the slope and turf-covered, measures 20.0m N-S overall; the E wall arc is mutilated and only a conjectural, transverse length of 17.0m is indicated. The entrance is in the SE. Large blocks are evident in the hut build, in particular two contiguous slabs in the N, one up to 1.0m high, that may be inner facing-stones in situ. The collapsed walling where not disturbed is 4.0m broad and up to 1.0m high. In comparison with huts A and B, hut C, notwithstanding the poor state of preservation, presents a markedly more robust construction.

The field system is evident in numerous field clearance heaps, spaced on average from 8.0m to 20.0m apart, No measurable plots are discernible. interspersed with occasional signs of lynchets and banks.

Revised at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (J M) 12 March 1981.

Activities

Field Visit (21 March 1995)

There are three hut-circles, a burnt mound, and a field-system and small cairns on a heather-covered hill to the E of Blairmore.

The three hut-circles lie on a terrace on the E of the hill. One of the huts (ROG95 415) is much smaller than the other two; oval on plan, it measures about 5m from WNW to ESE by 4m transversely within a stony bank spread to 2.5m in thickness and up to 0.5m in height with an entrance in the ESE. The other two are both about 10m in diameter. The wall of the E hut-circle (ROG95 417) are up to 3.2m thick anf 1m high; there is a probable entrance gap on the SSE and a second gap on the NW. The W hut-circle (ROG95 416) comprises a stony bank 2.4m thick and 0.5m high; the entrance lies on the ESE and there is a water-filled hollow in the centre of the interior.

The burnt mound lies a short distance to the E (ROG95 419, NC 7474 0422) on the opposite side of the track from the hut-circles. Set against the slope of the hill, the oval-shaped mound measures 6.2m from N to S by 4.5m transversely and 1m in height. There is no trough visible, but there are exposures of burnt, shattered small stones in the body of the mound.

The spread of small cairns (ROG95 418) extends in a strip about 100m wide over the whole of the hill from the road at the W to the track in the E, a distance of 300m. The cairns are up to 5m across by 0.5m high with occasional banks of stone visible, especially where the heather is burnt off.

(ROG95 415-419)

Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 21 March 1995

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