Monument record MHG31673 - Dock loading bay area - Ascoile

Loading bay area.
S end of 2.6m long loading bay wall, standing 1.1m high, orientated 023 degrees and facing E onto large levelled, sub-rectangular platform area, large enough for large vehicles to enter into from the existing access track of Feature 001 (above) to the E, and turn. It was constructed in the 1950s for timber extraction from the Gordonbush Estate (R Rowantree, Head Keeper, Gordonbush Estate, pers. comm.). The bay wall itself is constructed from railway sleepers laid horizontally on their sides and retained to the E by three vertical wooden posts and spoil at its rear to the W.

The whole area, extending to approximately 1000sqm, is surrounded by a 1m high x 2-3m wide, grass-covered spoil bank of peat and stone, which has been pushed outwards from the levelled interior area. It is wider and higher on the S side, due to the nature of the S-sloping topography, and the uphill, N side acts as a bank to a 0.5m deep ditch trending W from Feature 028 (below) containing westwards-flowing water. The N side of the ditch is further defined by an intermittent, linear arrangement of large single boulders. The loading bay area banking is sinuous and its S and W side corners are rounded, and it opens onto the existing access track to the E in a very broad bellmouth. On its N side, the banking is much straighter and changes in orientation are sharper. <1>