Monument record MHG2543 - Aisled Building, Carn Liath

Carn Liath (Cairn) (NR) (Site of)

Carn Liath: A 'Pictish dwelling', destroyed several years ago, its stones being used for building purposes.
Name Book 1877.

Noted as a site only. RCAHMS 1911.

An earth-and-stone mound, 18m in diameter. The interior has been completely robbed, leaving a rim some 2.5m wide and 0.9m high. There are traces of a kerb or revetment on S edge of the mound. The site is covered with reeds.
Visited by OS (W D J) 16 June 1960.

(ND 0433 2975) Carn Liath (NR) OS 6" map, (1963)

Carn Liath is not a cairn, but the scant remains of a homestead or 'wag', overgrown with reeds and situated on a gentle NW-facing hillslope. It has been severely robbed, presumably to build the adjacent sheepfold, and the greater part of the interior has been removed to ground level leaving a rim 1m high. The only structural details which survive are:
(i) A discontinuous arc of boulders which form the outer face of a wall around the S quarter; this is similar to the outer wall of Dail-a-Chairn (ND02NW 5) and Wag of Forse (ND23NW 1).
(ii) In the ESE is the apsidal end of a dry stone structure, 3.5m across and 2.5m deep, defined by a crudely coursed inner wall-face 0.7m maximum height.
The remainder of the structure has been removed, but despite this and the absence of stone uprights, it is probable that it is the remains of a subrectangular aisled-house of the type common to south Caithness and east Sutherland (see ND03NE 2). The overall size of Carn Liath, about 18.0m in diameter, would suggest the former existence of more structures.
Visited by OS (N K B) 26 October 1982.