Monument record 1546 - ALLT CHRISAL, BARRA

NL69NW 7.14 6422 9774

T16. A sub-rectangular enclosure with a rounded end to the W, utilising a low rock scarp to the E. The enclosure (13.5m E-W and 9.5m N-S) is marked out by well-embedded stones/boulders. In the SW corner are traces of a D-shaped hut foundation 3.5m long, and close to the N wall is a rectangular area of cobbling, c. 3 x 2m.
K Branigan and P Foster 1995; NMRS MS/595/5.

The monument known as Alt Chrisal, multi-period settlement 750m ESE of Gortein, Barra, comprises the remains of a multi-period settlement site that also includes some evidence for prehistoric ritual activity. Survey & excavations between 1989 and 1994, by Sheffield University, found evidence for settlement dating from the Neolithic (about 3600 years BC) to the 18th and 19th centuries. The stone-built elements of the excavated structures are still largely visible on site today, where not destroyed by the road and sheep pen. The area to be scheduled is irregular, with maximum dimensions of 300m NNW-SSE by 270m NNE-SSW, to include the main focus of surviving above-ground structures at Alt Chrisal and an area in which evidence related to their construction and use may survive. The fenceline along the roadside and around the sheep pen (which forms the S boundary of the site) is excluded from the scheduling, to allow for maintenance.
HS scheduling document, 8.11.2005

K. Brannigan & P. Foster, 1995, Barra: archaeological research on Ben Tangaval from the end of the Ice Age to the Crofting Commissio, pp. 35, 49, 51, 201 (Bibliographic reference). SWE33223.