Monument record MHG38862 - Hut circle - Kingsburgh 16 (Kingsburgh 12)

A degraded hut circle at Kingsburgh, Skye.

A hut circle was recorded by M Wildgoose in 2003 during an additional walkover survey in advance of a proposed forestry Woodland Grant Scheme at Kingsburgh, Skye. Lying beneath the north wall of a prominent enclosure immediately to the west side of a crofter's track is a partly robbed-out hut-circle. The circuit of the walls can just be made out giving the site a diameter of circa 11m over walls 1.5m wide. An entrance is still visible in the southwest sector, marked by two large stone door posts set 0.9m apart. The remnants of boulder boundaries abut both the sourthwest and north sides of the hut circle. Immediately to the south of the hut circle and attached to the southeast side of the enclosure wall is a later and now ruinous rectangular structure which is stone-built and measures 8m long by 5m wide overall. A 4m square foundation lies just to the south of the southwest end of this structure. A 4m diameter ?shieling lies across the track just to the west of the hut circle. <1>

140644 855721 Kingsburgh 12 EB221: The hut circle was visited by A Welti and A MacInnes in 2010 as part of research for a dissertation on hut circles in Wester Ross. This was part of a degree course overseen by Aberdeen University. Reported as M Wildgoose Site 16 in Kingsburgh Archaeological Survey 2003. The circular stone structure sits on a very gentle slope and is bisected by ancient field boundary wall. EB220 is adjacent to north of the structure. In N wall at the possible entrance there are 2 orthostats. This may also be the entrance to EB220 at a different period of occupation. Structure is submerged by bracken and is very degraded. Average inner diameter is 7.5m, outer diameter is 10m90. Wall thickness is 1.2m, entrance orientation is to N. <2> <3>

[Note: a database was set up as part of research for the dissertation and was subsequently expanded as an extension of the We Digs Project (see website link below). The full access database can be made available to enquirers/researchers if requested - contact HER for details]

Note: NGR adjusted to position as seen on 1999-2001 vertical APs [IS-L 08/02/2017].