Monument record MHG9897 - Souterrain & Finds, Torrish

NC91NE 37 97 18.

The earth-house at Torrish is not in a good state of preservation. It resembles other earth-houses of Kildonan, all being about 40' long and varying from 4' to 5' in height, although height has been 6' when a small part of floor has been lowered. Rainfall has caused the walls to bulge inwards more or less, but the original width seems to have been such that one person could just pass another. The building is of the roughest kind; stones are unmortared, and roof is slabbed. An urn 'of burned clay' about 5" high was found in this earth-house. It was ornamented with a raised band. Animal bones, pieces of charcoal, and charcoal streaks on the floors have been found. The remains show that these Kildonan earth-houses probably date between 300 and 750 AD. The remains also tend to suggest that these earth-houses were places of concealment rather than of permanent occupation. A B Scott 1899.

No trace of this earth-house, and no local information concerning it, was found during field investigation. In Dunrobin Castle Museum are "4 fragments of bronze (? part of a buckle) from the earth-house at Torrish, found 1880; also fragments of coarse pottery from the same site".
Visited by OS (W D J) 19 May 1960.

Acc Nos of two sherds from the souterrain X.80 and 81
Information from TS of Catalogue of Dunrobin Museum, by A S Henshall.