Monument record MHG28519 - Leataidh

NC60NE 2.01 6859 0597

A township, comprising fifteen unroofed buildings and nine enclosures is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1879, sheets xcvi).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 19 August 1998.

The buildings of this township are ranged along the N edge of the enclosed ground at Leataidh, and most are located on raised situations overlooking an extensive area of rig cultivation, amounting to about 20ha, to the S. Twenty buildings, eight huts, three corn-drying kilns and several small enclosures were recorded, which can be separated into three groups, each with its own kiln.
The smallest group is that to the W, which is spread across a low knoll centred on NC 6851 0590, and consists of four buildings, two huts, a corn-drying kiln and three small enclosures. The two largest buildings measure internally 20m by 2.7m and 18.1m by 3.1m (ROG95 464, 467). The former has faced-rubble walls, 0.7m thick and up to 0.7m high, with squared corners and is divided into two compartments, that to the W having a byre drain running out at the SW corner; the latter, a three-compartment building, is built of turf and stone, its walls surviving as spread banks 0.3m high. The other two buildings measure internally 10.2m by 3.3m (ROG95 466) and 8m by 2.5m (ROG95 469); once again the former building has rubble walls with squared corners, while the latter has extensively robbed turf and stone walls. These remains appear to represent two phases of settlement - an earlier turf-walled farmstead succeeded by more regulraly-built stone structures. The kiln (ROG95 465) is set into the SSE side of the knoll. It has a bowl, 1.8m in diameter and choked with rubble to within 0.7m of the top, attached on the SSE to a barn measuring internally 4.2m by 3.1m, within which can be seen the flue leading into the base of the bowl.
The second, and much larger, group of buildings stands to the NE, centred around NC 6860 0595. It comprises eleven buildings, two huts, a kiln and at least five enclosures (ROG95 639-652). The buildings range in length from 7.3m to 19.1m and in breadth from 2.6m to 3.3m; all but four of them are between 11.3m and 15.8m in length, and only one (ROG95 644, at the centre of the group) is longer, at 19.1m. They are mostly constructed of faced rubble with square corners; they are not all rectangular, four having bowed side walls. In some cases the outer faces have been embanked with turf and one hut, situated on a terrace above the head-dyke, is built entirely of turf (ROG95 652). As with the group to the SW there is some evidence that the visible remains are of more than one period - for example, two buildings (ROG95 648 and 649) each overlie or abut the end of another (respectively ROG95 647 and 650) and the head-dyke which passes close to the N edge of the group has been rebuilt and realigned at least once. Four buildings are divided into two compartments (ROG646-7, 650-1), and several have one or more outshots attached. Two buildings (ROG95 641, 644) have a drain at one end, and in each case the entrance to the building is just above the upper end of the drain. The kiln (ROG95 643) is built into the face of a terrace at the SW edge of the group; it has a bowl measuring 1.6m in diameter and at least 1m in depth within a wall 0.9m in thickness. A barn is attached on the lower SSE side, measuring internally 4.1m by 2.7m, with an entrance in the SSE end. The mouth of the flue, roof lintel in place, is visible at the top end of the barn.
The third group of structures is situated to the E. It comprises three buildings, four huts, a kiln and two enclosures (ROG95 654-661). The buildings measure between 9.3m and 16.2m in length and between 2.7m and 3.3m in breadth within rubble walls with squared corners which stand up to 0.8m high. The largest building (ROG95 660) has a drain in its SE end (which is narrower than the other end); another building (ROG95 657) has opposed entrances, that on the W side leading to a small enclosure. Three of the huts have a similar construction to the buildings, and they measure up to 4.8m in length and 2.7m in breadth; the fourth, built on a ledge close to the head-dyke, has walls reduced to stony banks and measures internally 5.8m by 2m (ROG95 654). The kiln (ROG95 658) is set into the face of a terrace; it has a bowl measuring 1.7m by 1.5m and 1m in depth within a wall 1.2m thick. There is a barn attached to it on the SE, which measures internally 3.7m by 2.3m , entered from the SE end of the SW side.
Two outlying buildings remain to be described. One is situated to the N of the third group of buildings, about 80m N of the head-dyke at NC 6890 0611 (ROG95 653). It is measures 8m in length and 2.7m in breadth within turf walls 0.7m thick and up to 0.2m high. There is an entrance on the S side, faced with stone, close to which there is a midden heap. The other building is at the W edge of the site, at NC 6818 0599 (ROG95 638). It measures 8.3m in length and 2.8m in breadth within a stony bank 0.8m thick, and has two outshots, one at the WNW end, the other on the SSW side.
(ROG95 463-69, 638-61)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 16 May and 8 June 1995