Monument record MHG9858 - Kilphedir

NC91NE 25 990 193.

(NC 990 194) (5) Enclosures (NR)

A settlement of five hut circles (I-V) excavated by Fairhurst between 1963 and 1968. Two types of huts were distinguished, type I and type II. The first occupation of site was about 500 BC.
RCAHMS 1911; H Fairhurst 1971; H Fairhurst, D B Taylor 1974.

Each of the four type I huts consisted of a low perimeter wall in which had rested the ends of the rafters of a conical roof supported on a ring of posts half way between the wall and the hut centre. There was no evidence of central posts. In, or near, the centre of each was a hearth. Internal diameters were between 20ft and 40ft. Coarse, generally flat rimmed, pottery was found. Hut V, the only type II hut, was found to incorporate the remnants of one of the earlier type I huts, and was dated to c130BC. It had a higher, thicker wall, lined on the inside with slabs, which expanded at the entrance to form a passage 5m long. Finds included potsherds of a smoother harder ware, one with an everted rim, a saddle quern, and pounders and rubbing stones.
Contemporary agriculture is evidenced by clearance heaps, and stony banks edging plots. Fairhurst (1971) implies that the clearance cairns were possibly contemporary with the type I huts, and the stony banks with the type II house, suggesting a change in cultivation methods.
E W MacKie 1969; Visited by OS (W D J) 20 May 1960.

This is a settlement of five huts (I-V) in association with a field system as described by Fairhurst.
Re-surveyed at 1:10,560.
Visited by OS (W D J) 20 October 1976.