Monument record MHG753 - Hut Circles, Reay

(A: NC 9728 6512 & B: NC 9726 6510) Hut Circles (NR)
OS 6"map, (1967)

2 hut circles excavated by McLeod 1955 having been exposed by sand-blow in area of rising ground which has been stripped of its turf cover.
A: 40ft diameter within wall 3ft 9ins wide with an unusual entrance, 3ft 4ins wide in W. S element of entrance overlapped N by 2ft 8ins. Across inner end lay dry-stone wall, 1ft lower than main wall, 8ft long and 2ft 8ins wide, tapering to 1ft towards S wall and probably merging with it. In centre of circle was paved area, circular with flattened S edge, partly surrounded at a distance of just over 1ft by set stones on W and N with a flag-lined and covered ash-pit on E.
B: was only partly cleared. It had been larger than A, but only N arc was intact, remainder having been extensively robbed. Two stone pounders had been found earlier on this site and excavation exposed quantities of limpet and whelk shells within hut. Spreads of these shells occurred on surface around and beyond huts. A spindle whorl was picked up nearby.
A G MacLeod 1959; Info from the 'John O' Groats Journal' (A G MacLeod) 6 and 13 September 1957.

3 huts or enclosures half-buried in sand, were located.
A: is 12.5m diameter within a stone wall 2m wide and 0.1m high in places with an entrance 1m wide in NW. Coursed stone walling enclosures a small compartment in NE interior, and a small enclosure measuring about 6x 5m abuts circle on E.
B: is oval measuring 14.3m N-S by 12.6m E-W within a fragmentary wall 2.0m wide and barely traceable . Neither entrance nor internal features was noted.
C: is 10.5m diameter within a wall of uncertain width. Abutting this circle on E is an enclosure measuring 10.3 by 7.3m formed by a barely-visible course of stone walling. (This may be the 'circular building' uncovered in 1926 - see NC96NE 13b).
These structures lie on a sand and gravel bed c1.2m below the present turf level. Other stone foundations, too vague to interpret also occur, and an erect slab NE of 'C' may be the remains of a cist. This site is comparable with NC66NE 3 at Bettyhill, Sutherland. Visited by OS (J L D) 7 April 1960

Only huts 'A' & 'B' could be identified. 'C' has probably been re-covered b
diameter and 0.8m in maximum height with an entrance in the west.
B: is 14m diameter and 0.9m in maximum height with no obvious entrance though this may have been in NW where inner face of the dry-stone wall is broken. Large deposits of limpet and cockle shells are in the vicinity.
Surveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (N K B) 25 November 1964.

Hut 'A' is as described by previous OS field surveyor The internal and external structures noted by authority 3 are now difficult to trace. Hut 'B' is very obscure and details of it cannot be ascertained with any accuracy. A depression in the dune 22.0m NE of 'B' is possibly the site of 'C'. No contemporary cultivation is evident. The upright slab noted by OS field surveyor (J L D), 7 April 1960, measuring 0.6m by 0.3m and 0.35m high stands at NC 9731 6511.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (J B) 17 August 1981.

McLeod, A G, 1959, 'Caithness, Reay', Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1959, p.21, 21 (Text/Publication/Article). SHG389.