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MHG6606 - Shieling hut - Raasay Forest

Summary

The northernmost house, just below a rocky crag looking down on the sharp bend in the road.

Type and Period (3)

Protected Status

Full Description

Lying at the foot of a small birch-covered knoll, about 100m SW of the sharp bend in the road, at about 110m OD is a very degraded stone-built shieling. The remains consist of a two compartment structure measuring 6.5m N-S by 4.5m E-W. Two entrances are visible, one into each compartment. The entrance in the northern compartment faces NE, and the entrance in the southern faces SE.
Visited by I Marshall 26 March 1991.
Miket, R et al. 1991; NMRS MS/530.

Site recorded during a survey of the townships of North and South Screapadal plus the surrounding area carried out by the Association of Certificated Field Archaeologists (ACFA) in April 1998 as part of a continuing programme of recording the physical remains of human activity on the island of Raasay (Macdonald and Scott Wood 1997).

Feature 1A; House. This site could have been a small settlement with three possible houses or shielings and several areas of terracing and lazy beds close by. The northernmost house at NG 5760 4598, nestled at 110rn OD, just below a rocky crag looking down on the sharp bend in the road. Its dimensions were 8m by 4m SW to NE, externally, with 1m thick walls stand.mg to a height of 0.5m. It appeared to have three roughly circular chambers with one possible entrance 0.6m wide, visible to the south. The chamber at the SW end may have had later use as a sheep pen as it is more upstanding, to 0.8m high, and there are no loose boulders on the ground inside. From boulders protruding through the turf, this structure may be built on the site of an earlier building, perhaps a hut circle, about 8m in diameter.<1>

Note: Site not visible on aerial photographs so location based on grid reference. (2/10/26)

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 5758 4599 (30m by 30m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG54NE
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	PORTREE

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Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (2)