Monument record 2494 - LOCH NAN GARNACH, NORTH UIST

NF77NE 26 centred on 760 750

(NF 760 750) Unnamed settlement depopulated before 1880.
OS 6" map (1880)

(previously centred on NF 761 748) A large area of depopulation extending south-eastwards in a strip 200 to 350m wide, from NF 7550 7532 to NF 7680 7447. It contains the walls and footings of at least 44 rectangular buildings with associated enclosures and fields. A kiln was found in at least 7 of the smaller buildings.
The buildings vary in size from 19.0m by 6.5m to 6.0m by 4.0m with walls up to 1.5m thick standing to an average height of 1.0m.
On the north side of the strip, overlooking Vallay Sound, there are at least six small shieling-type structures and a number of stone-clearance heaps.
Local enquiries failed to find a name for the settlement or a date of depopulation.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 21 June 1965

NF 75 75 area A walk-over survey has been undertaken in an area of coastal land c2km long by 0.5km wide between Loch Olabhat and Airigh Mhic Ruairidh. Early OS map editions had indicated much abandoned settlement in this area, and a chambered tomb and likely prehistoric settlement site were previously known to be present on the Geirisclett peninsula. Details of all identified sites were recorded, and the locations of unmapped sites identified as accurately as possible by manual methods.
Evidence of abandoned settlement, land boundaries and cultivation were identified over much of the survey area. Approximately 100 individual structures of varying antiquity have been recorded. Many of the previously mapped structures may relate to a period of planned early 19th century settlement associated with the clearance of the nearby township at Foshigarry. However, evidence of a range of earlier settlement forms were also recorded, including rectilinear turf-built structures and enclosures around Airigh Mhic Ruairidh, sub-rectangular structures on knolls with closest parallels to the nearby excavated site at Drium nan Dearcag (see Armit 1989, 70-71), small sub-rectangular cells c2m across internally with no evident parallels currently known to the authors, and an oval drystone hut on a knoll enclosed by a boulder wall at Bagh an Ackra. The time depth apparent in the archaeological landscape appeared to be greatest on the Geirisclett peninsula, in contrast to the less fertile land around Loch nan Garnach, where much of the activity can be attributed to the 18th and 19th centuries.
A Full report will be deposited with the NMRS on completion.
Sponsor: The Russel Trust.
I Armit and A Dunwell 1995.

NF 761 753 From surface traces this site appeared to comprise principally an oval drystone structure measuring 6m by 4m internally with a 1.5m wide entrance on its E side, located on top of a low knoll. Its walling was visible mostly as agrassy bank, although up to four courses of an internal face were visible to the S. A secondary wall running between the entrance and the S wall seemed to represent the creation of a secondary sub-rectangular structure within the first. Two rubble spreads situated on eithre side of the interior of the entrance appeared to be tertiary bothies. The knoll upon which the structure is set stands to 3m in height, with a very steep-sided northren face. Stones resting on the steep face were origionally thought to have been deliberately placed, leading to the suspicion that the whole knoll was artificial.
The apparent superficial similarity of the structure to the disturbed Phase 1 structure excavated nearby at Eilean Olabhat (see Armit 1989, 70) promted the excavation of two small exploratory trenches in September 1995. These excavations revealed the main drystone structure to have at least two superimposed structural phases, and undecorated coarse pottery was recovered from presumed floor deposits associated with the different phases of walling. The N side of the knoll was revealed to be natural. During the excavations a buried boulder wall was located which defined an irregular oval enclosure c45m across around the knoll. The date of the structures excavated is unclear, although a medieval or earlier origin for the site seems unlikely.
A report will be deposited with the NMRS.
Sponsor: The Russell Trust.
I Armit and A Dunwell 1995.

NF77NE 26 7550 7532 to 7680 7447

A crofting township comprising one roofed, eleven unroofed buildings and seven enclosures, and twenty unroofed buildings, four enclosures and a head-dyke are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Hebrides, North Uist etc 1881, sheet xxx). Forty-one unroofed buildings and nine enclosures are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1970).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 8 April 1997

R Miller, 1967, Scot Stud, 214 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5595.

I Armit, 1989b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 70 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10420.

I Armit, 1989c, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 70-71 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10421.

I and A Armit and Dunwell, 1995a, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 108 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38859.

I and A Armit and Dunwell, 1995b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 108 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38860.

AOC Archaeology Group, 2017, ESN Mast, Griminish (Unpublished document). SWE41227.