Monument record MHG45594 - Hut circle - Achnahaird Bay (Achnahaird 1)

A hut circle at Achnahaird Bay.

There are a number of features on the E side of Achnahaird Bay, S of the outflow from Loch a' Chaoruinn, comprising two hut-circles, a building, a small hut, lazy-beds and several lengths of bank. The hut-circles stand above the shore, about 150m apart. That to the S (ACHIL94 458; NC 0229 1266) measures 7.4m in diameter within a wall 1.1m thick and 0.7m high. Facing stones survive on both sides of the wall, particularly the inner one. The entrance is on the W. (ACHIL94 458). (For the hut-circle to the N (ACHIL94 459; NC 0229 1281) see MHG26620).
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 10 August 1994

202297 912650 Achnahaird 1 AW401 (ACHILL94/458): The hut circle was visited by A Welti, C MacNeilage and C Martin 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. This circular stone structure lies built out from a very gentle west facing slope at the edge of the river flowing into Achnahaird Bay. There are wide views to land and sea from the site. The structure is in fair condition under the engulfing bracken, with many clearly defined inner facing stones. The surrounding landscape is heather and grassland. Average inner diameter is 7.3m, outer diameter is 10.9m. The double skinned wall is 1.4m thick with maximum height 0.6m. The probable entrance faces west. Entrance width is 1.0m both internally and externally, with passage length 2.0m. The terminals may be extended. There is a turf dyke 2m to the W of the HC, running N along the edge of the beach. Lazy beds surround the HC. Between AW401 and AW402 (see MHG26620) there are remains of curving stone dykes, Indications of other banks and dykes are barely visible under the heather. To W of the turf dyke, along the sandy edge of the river, is a line of large boulders, possibly an early field wall, (see sketch). AW401 is on a similar contour to the Loch Raa linear cluster. AW401 is 200m from AW402 and 600m from CM101 (see MHG9125). <1> <2>

[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].

NGR adjusted to position as seen on 2009 vertical APs. <3>

This HC was partially excavated as part of the Wedigs Community project in 2012. Five small trenches were excavated, one of which was to test the ground surface under nearby lazy-beds and a. Excavation within the hut circle revealed that there had been two phases of hut circle, the later of which produced a radio-carbon date of 395±29 BC (early-middle Iron Age). A post hole from the earlier phase was found sealed below the wall of the later structure. Small finds included several pebble hammers, broken pot-boilers and a polisher. <4> <5>