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MHG21190 - Township - Rudha Na H-Airde Glaise

Summary

A small township which is said to have provided for the fishermen working this part of Loch Torridon.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

What may be a small township comprising two roofed, one partially roofed and two unroofed buildings is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire 1881, sheet lxxx). Four unroofed buildings, one of which is a long building of three compartments, are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1971).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 23 April 1996

A walkover survey and desk-based assessment for the National Trust estate at Torridon was carried out by J Wordsworth and J Harden between 1996 and 2002.

Situated right down by the sea at the west-most neck of land is a small township which is said to have provided for the fishermen working this part of Loch Torridon. Today it is washed by the sea and this may well have been the case more than a century ago, too. The small area of cultivated land associated with this small township is likely to have been immediately to the NE up in a defile about 100m away.

115a M Macdonald records that the lime-mortared building at the seashore was 'The Old Inn'. Aligned NW-SE, today only the NW gable is partially standing, the other walls being between c0.3m and c0.7m high and c0.6m thick, defining a long rectangular building c15m by c4m split into three rooms (MM1).

115b To the NW of the inn is a round-cornered drystone structure c13m long by c4.5m wide over walls 0.6m thick and c1m high (MM1a). This building is also split into three, the entrances being SW facing at either end of the front wall and there being an entrance from the NW room into the middle room at the back of the dividing wall. There also appears to be a second entrance into the SE room from the back long wall.

115c To the SW of both of these structures is a drystone dyked enclosure, a gap/path running between the back well of the enclosure and the front walls of the buildings. The enclosures is c20m by c8m with walls c0.6m thick and c1m high. The entrance is through the NE facing dyke. The enclosure is regularly lapped by the sea (MM2). 1 15d Built directly onto the rock and now regularly lapped by the sea is a drystone structure aligned NNW-SSE and measuring c10m long by c4m wide over walls up to c1m high and c0.5m thick (MM3), There appears to be an internal division just south of the west facing entrance.

115e Situated just above the old jetty is a drystone structure aligned N-S and measuring c8m long by c4.5m wide over walls up to 1m high (with the S gable up to 1.5m high) and cO,6m thick. There is an entrance to the N. (MM4) There appears to be a slight internal division to the N of the entrance. The entrance may have had an external porch attached o it.

115f A small harbour with a 'landing stage' made of large stones (MM5) is sited S of 115e.'
The area of cultivated land that may have been associated with this small township is sited about 100m to the NE (MM7 & 7a). However, there is also a small enclosure on the higher ground to the east, seen as a bracken infested patch of ground c25m square with a turf and stone dyke along its S edge and what appear to be clearance cairns to the west.

The areas of cultivated ground to the NE are generally defined by outcrops and slight drystone dykes. There are at least two subrectangular drystone structures in these areas. One is aligned cNNW-SSE, measuring c5.5m by c3m over walls c0.5m wide and between c0.7m and cl m high. It has an entrance in its south end. The other structure, on the higher cultivated area, is set against a pile of stones and measures c2.5m by c1 .5m over walls c0.5m wide and c0.5m high. <1>

NGR adjusted based on 2020 vertical aerial photographs. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 8064 5664 (106m by 115m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG85NW
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	APPLECROSS

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