Monument record MHG12454 - Ruigh Leadain

NC64NW 2 612 492.

(NC 612 492) Ruighe Leadain. The remains of a depopulated settlement mentioned in 1726 as a farm, 'Aldnalouchart Rianleadan' (Macfarlane 1906-8) (Presumably for the combined names Allt and Lagh-aird and Ruighe Leadain), and under rough pasture by 1874 (ONB 1874). The remains consist of many retangular and oval building foundations, with turf-covered walls 0.1m to 0.5m high, old field dykes and small enclosures. There are many field clearance heaps in the area, mainly of the elongated type running down the hillside and forming the boundaries of strip fields.
Name Book 1874; W Macfarlane 1906-8; Visited by OS (J L D) 30 April 1960

This was part of 'Lord Reay's Country' which was bought by the Duke of Sutherland in 1829. The clearances are probably later than this date, possibly about 1855 when clearances are known to have occured in Tongue. J Prebble 1963.

Ruighe Leadain is as described by the previous field investigator. Five of the footings are of 'longhouses', the largest being 32.0m by 4.0m. The formerly cultivated ground is now almost entirely covered by thick bracken.
Visited by OS (J B) 6 September 1978.

This township comprising ten unroofed buildings, three of which are long buildings, six enclosures, of which one is marked as a sheepfold, and a length of wall to the N, which may be part of a head dyke, is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1878, sheet xxxv). Seven unroofed buildings,two of which have two compartments, two unroofed structures, five enclosures, a disused sheepfold and a similar head-dyke are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map (1992).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 23 August 1995