Monument record 1739 - ALLT CHRISAL, BARRA

NL69NW 7.01 6393 9765.

T1: A relict land boundary of turf and stone, standing to 0.3m and traced for 60m upslope from the coastline, curving NE. At the S end, a roughly circular depression suggested a possible hut site. In low light, the area enclosed by this wall (c. 250 x 150m, more than 6.5 acres) can be seen to have been entirely cultivated by lazy-bedding in the past. Two trenches were laid out in the area where road building would destroy the best preserved length of wall.

Trench 1 was laid out across the length of the wall and measured 2 x 1m. It showed that the wall consisted mainly of slabs of peat stacked in a battered formation on a very rough and irregular foundation of small rocks. Turf and heather crowned the wall, and it is suggested that this was part of the original structure, so that the wall, probably never more than 0.5m high, was topped with a low growth of heather. No artefacts were found.

Trench 2 was laid out to investigate the S end of the wall where it reaches a low cliff. Richer vegetation growth and undulations in the surface suggested a possible occupation area here against thge E face of the wall. The trench was originally 4 x 1m across the wall line but was extended by 3 x 1.5m E of the wall. Two phases of activity were identified. The earlier is represented by a group of stones, mostly 15 - 25 cms in length, laid just above natural almost on the line of the main wall. They were associated with a sandy, greyish-brown soil with fine rounded inclusions from which were recovered five small flint flakes. It is uncertain whether the group of stones ever served any structural purpose but they appeared to be a deliberate grouping. The second phase saw the construction of a very simple hearth ringed by five stones, within which evidence of a concentration of burning was seen. Around the hearth, burning was also seen to extend over the whole area. No artefacts were found in the hearth or the burnt level.

It was concluded that there may have been a very small prehistoric activity area on the edge of the sea after which the site was abandoned and grassed over. Much later the hearth was placed here and either accidentally or deliberately the turf was fired. Immediately afterwards the peat, turf and heather wall was built to enclose the area to be cultivated. The most likely period for this is the late 17th - early 18th-century AD; this being cultivated land associated with the house and outbuildings at Allt Chrisal (NL 69 NW 7.06, 07).
K Branigan 1989b; K Branigan and P Foster 1995; NMRS MS/595/3.

K Branigan, 1989b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 68 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10409.

K. Brannigan & P. Foster, 1995, Barra: archaeological research on Ben Tangaval from the end of the Ice Age to the Crofting Commissio, 35, 51, 161-2, 200, 201. (Bibliographic reference). SWE33223.