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MHG63920 - Hut circle - Gylable Burn ('C')

Summary

A hut circle near the Gylable Burn.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A hut circle near the Gylable Burn. One of three recorded at this location by the OS. Originally recorded as hut circle 'C'. See MHG9962 for 'A' and MHG63918 for 'B'.

At NC 946 173 on a shelf in a NE-facing hillside is a settlement of three hut circles (A-C) within a minor field system. Hut A is small and overgrown with peat and heather; it is 7.0m internal diameter within a wall spread to 2.0m broad all round. The entrance gap is in the SE arc. Huts B and C are similar in size and character, each measuring internally 10.0m by 9.0m, with the entrances in the longer axis in the NE and E respectively. The huts are set into a gentle slope with walls spread to 2.0m broad. Some outer revetting stones occur in hut C, but apart from this no structural details are visible.
The only evidence of associated cultivation is about six stone clearance heaps in broken ground; no plots can be seen.
Surveyed at 1:10,560.
Visited by OS (N K B) 18 May 1976.

A forestry creation project where ploughing had caused damage to some of the known archaeological sites prompted survey over the unploughed area east of Kilearnan Hill led by J Barber in Nov 1982. Simple fieldwalking showed that the sites were concentrated in the unploughed central area between the Gylable and Oulmsdale Burns. This was gridded in 100 m squares and the survey was carried out on 50 m squares extrapolated from the grid. This hut circle was included within the survey area.

The likely sale of the whole Kilearnan plot of land and the consequent possibility of losing the protected areas prompted a five-week excavation in late July and August 1983. Due to the number of monuments involved and the time allocated to the project, this was treated as an extension of the sampling exercise begun the previous year. It was intended, with minimal excavation, to retrieve as much information as possible about the sites on the hillside in terms of form, dating or date range, and the environment current during their use. This hut circle (designated 'Hut 1') was chosen for partial excavation. Before excavation the hut appeared as an oval platform with a dished interior and a small bank on the north side where a few large stones protruded through the heather and grass vegetation. The supposed entrance showed clearly as a break in its eastern side. The dimensions were generally as stated above. The ditch marking one side of a forestry ride had cut across the bank and platform on the west side. The ditch was up to 0.3 m deep.

The undisturbed east half of the site was chosen for excavation. The hut was found to have a thin covering of peat, generally less than 0.1 m. The wall varied from 1 m to 1.4 m in thickness and consisted in the main of an outer facade, comprising a line of closely spaced angular stones, within which were smaller angular stones. There was no continuous inner facade. Nowhere did the wall exceed 0.8 m in height, the south wall being especially insubstantial. The north wall facade was in places three courses high, formed of large angular blocks up to 0.85 m long. It acted as a revetment to earthen bank material which was topped by other stones. The interior produced only one convincing post-hole (F141), 0.23 m wide, 0.13 m deep and lined with small stones. A further possible post-hole (F140) proved unconvincing on excavation, being 0.20 m wide and 0.03 m deep, with no packing stones. This feature, however, would have occupied a position within the most likely post-ring circuit, assuming that the hut was roofed.

The lack of a hearth and convincing evidence for roofing in the excavated portion of this hut made its interpretation as a domestic structure somewhat tenuous. A radiocarbon date was obtained from the most charcoal-rich floor deposit (F151) of AD 1490-1950 cal (GU-1920). The finds, however, comprising 30 pieces of flint, chert, quartz and jasper, and 22 pottery sherds which had fine quartz and/or mica inclusions in addition to organic temper, did lend weight to its interpretation as a prehistoric domestic structure. The stone finds included waste flakes and chips but there were also core rejuvenation flakes, used flakes and recognizable tool types present, including borers and scrapers. <1>

NOTE: The C14 date for this site in <1> is incorrectly given as 1490-1950 cal BC when it clearly should be AD 1490-1950 cal.

The hut circle was Scheduled with other monuments in the vicinity in 1988.

Following re-assessment, the Scheduling was revoked by Historic Environment Scotland in 2016. <2>

The site is visible in vertical aerial photographs taken in 2020 and 2023. Its position, however, is somewhat different to where it is shown on modern OS mapping, being c.25m to the north-northwest. <3>

Sources/Archives (4)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 9469 1737 (21m by 21m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC91NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	KILDONAN

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (2)