Monument record MHG18467 - Upper Cullernie

NH74NW 76 7285 4774

'Ring trench house with saddle quern in the fill': No details given.
J Wordsworth 1991. <1>

Arc of brown loamy sand silt with charcoal, identified during observation on the route of the Nairn to Inverness pipeline. Later revealed to be remains of ring trench house with associated postholes, a saddle quern and pottery. Definition of the ring trench and the postholes was particularly sharp due to a strong iron-pan forming on the sand into which it was cut. The complete plan was not revealed. It had an outer ring of posts 0.25m diameter forming a circle c8m in diameter
An irregular trench varying in depth from 50-350mrn separated these posts from an inner circle of posts 0.1-0.15m in diameter. The ring trench had been partially paved, particularly over its deepest section at the NW.
This type of monument has a widespread distribution particularly along the Lowland plain in parts of Angus and Lothian and generally dates to the later Bronze Age (c500 BC). The discovery of a discarded saddle quern amongst the paving would accord with this date. <2>