Monument record MHG10415 - Achadh A' Choirce

NC60NE 16.00 6827 0536

NC60NE 16.01 6841 0534 Hut-circle; Enclosure; Pen
NC60NE 16.02 6844 0511 Bloomery mound
NC60NE 16.03 6837 0505 Burnt mound
NC60NE 16.04 6831 0501 Building

Achecork. W Roy 1747-55.

Now Achadh a' Choirce (OS 6-inch map, 1969): remains of 18th/19th century depopulation.
Visited by OS (JM) 3 October 1980.

NC 60NE 16.00 Achadh a' Choirce
Township; Corn-drying kiln
NC 6827 0536

The remains of the township of Achadh a' Choirce are spread across the hillside on the SW side of the Abhainn Leataidh. The township is bounded by the river on the NE and by a head-dyke on the SW and SE, while on the NW an unnamed burn may have been the boundary with the neighbouring township of Caolas (NC60NE 15.00); the area thus defined extends to about 28ha, much of it gently-sloping grassland (now bracken-infested in places), although there are also areas of rough or boggy ground. Five unroofed buildings, five enclosures and the head-dyke are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1879, sheets xcvi).
The remains comprise five buildings, six huts, a corn-drying kiln, several small enclosures, stretches of bank and traces of rig cultivation. A hut-circle on a knoll in the centre of the township, a bloomery mound at its S edge, a burnt mound and a turf-walled building, both beyond the head-dyke to the S, are all described separately (NC60NE 16.01-16.04). The township buildings are concentrated in two groups, about 200m apart, centred around NC 6841 0520 and NC 6827 0536.
The first group, to the SE, comprises three buildings, four smaller huts or outhouses and at least six irregular enclosures. The longest building (NC 6841 0520, ROG95 689) measures 17.4m in length by 3.6m in breadth within walls 0.6m thick and up to 0.5m high. It has three compartments, stepping down towards the E end, the entrance opens into the E compartment, in which there is a byre drain, and there is an outshot or recess on the N side of the W compartment. To the NE there is a second building, measuring internally 9.4m by 2.9m and divided into two compartments (ROG95 687). The third building (ROG95 693), situated about 60m to the SE of the group at NC 6847 0513, measures 9.2m in length by 3m in breadth within turf and stone walls spread to a thickness of 1.1m. It has an outshot attached to each end. The four huts, clustered around the first two buildings, measure between 4.1m and 5.5m in length and between 2.1m and 3m in breadth within walls built of faced-rubble with squared corners, and standing up to 0.5m high.
Amongst the NW group, one building (NC 6827 0536, ROG95 685), much better preseved than the others, is clearly later, and may have been a shepherd's house post-dating the clearance of the glen. It measures 9.9m NE to SW by 4.4m transversely within faced-rubble walls with squared corners which measure 0.65m in thickness and stand 1.7m high; there is an entrance, and possibly also a window, in the SE side. An extension, 8.8m long, at the NE end has opposed entrances, one of them later blocked up. A later hut has been inserted into the N corner of this extension. Attached to the NW side of this building there is a subrectangular enclosure, with a pen in its W corner, and there is another small enclosure to the NE. The rest of this group lies to the S and SW of this building, and consists of one building two huts, a corn-drying kiln and two small enclosures. The building (ROG95 681) measures 9.1m in length by 4m in breadth within turf and stone walls spread to 0.7m in thickness and 0.3m high at most. There may be another building in the heather to the W, its walls reduced to spread banks. One of the huts (ROG95 684) measures 4.7m by 2.4m within turf and stone walls 0.6m thick which stand no more than 0.2m high, while the other (ROG95 682) measures internally 3.3m by 2m and has an open E end. The rubble walls and squared corners of this hut suggest that it may be contemporary with the the later house. The kiln (ROG95 683) is set into the hillside with a drain around the upper (NW) side. It has a bowl 1.5m in diameter and 0.5m in depth, now grassed over, to the SE of which there was a barn now reduced to a stance 7.3m in length.
(ROG95 681-5, 687-93)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 19 June 1995