Monument record MHG48652 - Braemore Square

NMRS Report: (23/10/2006 09:28:19)
NH17NE 9 195 788

For Braemore House and related sites, see NH17NE 7.00.

Walkover survey of an area S of Braemore Square by a group of volunteers has located a number of previously unrecorded features. The area (c 2.5ha) is a fairly level strip of grassland with bracken and some bog, about 50m wide, running c 0.5km NW-SE above the steep E bank of the Abhainn Droma. The eastern limit of the area is marked by a badly preserved 19th-century estate wall, beyond which a steep slope rises to the A835. An earlier trackway seems to follow the line of this wall NW-SE through the area. Several banks, some including sizeable stones, may also relate to earlier phases of use. There is no evidence of rig cultivation or rectangular foundations, but modern quarry cuts are visible in the slope up to the A835.
Towards the N end of the area is a stone-walled roundhouse (NH 1950 7906), some 10m in diameter crest to crest, with walls standing c 0.5m high, and an entrance to the SE. The roundhouse is associated with a scattered series of well-defined clearance heaps and indications of a field system. Other probable structures will be investigated after the bracken dies down.
Further S, centred at NH 1957 7887, is an earth and stone bank/mound about 70m long, 7-10m broad, and up to 1m high, orientated N-S. Vegetation change at the S end indicates a possible change in the underlying composition of the mound. Several sizeable stones are present; none forms part of an identifiable structure.
Beside the S end of the mound, and backing on to the edge of the river gorge, is a massive drystone oval structure (NH 1956 7885), some 18m N-S by 14m, standing to a height of c 2m. No wall faces or orthostats are apparent. The open central area seems to have been 8m N-S by 4m. A passage-like entranceway projects on the E side, toward the S. To the N of this entrance is a circular hollow, in the mound material, 4m in diameter and opening to the E; its chronological relation to the main structure is undefined. Resistivity survey along the E and N sides, together with slight
surface indications, suggest that the feature was enclosed by a substantial ditch which seems to be overlain by at least one structure, possibly circular. The form and massive scale of the feature make it unlikely to be a dilapidated medieval/modern house or shieling; its likely defensive nature may put it in the Atlantic roundhouse category.
Work continues, and will involve contour survey, small and large-scale survey of identified features and further limited geophysical survey.
Sponsors: Mr & Mrs Hughes.
A Welti and J Kenworthy 2004

NH 196 788 Survey continued over this multi-period site S of Braemore Square (DES 2004, 77-8). Resistivity and contour
survey in the vicinity of the drystone oval structure (NH 1956 7885) awaits analysis. Immediately to the N of this oval structure are the remains of a wall, enclosing a semi-circular area 50m in diameter. The area is bounded on the diameter of the semi-circle by the edge of the river gorge. The settings of several large stones indicate inner and outer wall faces. An entrance to this enclosure is on the SE. Further remains of possible field walls have been identified to the
S of the oval structure, together with some small slab-lined pond-like structures.
The northern area of the site is currently being investigated by plane table survey. A stone-walled roundhouse (NH 19485 79077) and associated clearance heaps are being examined, together with other probable structures previously obscured by bracken.
Work continues and will involve completion of plane table surveying of the N of the site, followed by preliminary survey of
the central area of the site and a walkover survey of Strone Wood, the area immediately across the Abhainn Droma from the site.
Sponsors: OFARS, Mr & Mrs Hughes.
A Welti, G Sleight and J Wilson 2005