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Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork
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For once CANMORE provides no detail apart from this being a burnt mound below which at low water levels can be seen the tops of upright slabs forming an oval structure. This is on the same side of the loch as the Howie Manse and I feel excavation would reveal the area about it to be perhaps as complicated. Opposite the gate that gives entrance to the Grieves Cottage field is a gate to the field on the other side of the road, and you can see the (on this side slight) mound over by. When you approach this it seems more like two mounds - either that or at one time it was rather large. There are some bigish stones in this, especially where it falls away to the shore, but I could discern no structures.
Down on the beach much of the geology seems to be flagstone pavement, including some immense slabs. Must have been low water because I could easily find various upright slabs buried about here. Raymond Lamb in "The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Scotland , 27..." says that the drought of 1980 not only exposed this Bronze Age structure but also an erect row of slabs fifteen metres ESE of the house beside a wall, and that the waters must have risen by at least a metre since these were built (it is only 2m deep now in most of the deeper sections). Certainly some of this doesn't require even waterproof shoes to get close to. Make a nice paddle. I'm not sure I didn't see one or two extra upright scattered about as I couldn't make out the recorded structure's outline myself. Could some of the flagstones also have been part of structures, or at the very least abutted them? Tried to decide but was unable to do so, simply a feeling. Raymond also says many crude stone implements lie on the loch bed.
Between here and The Howie of The Manse is a roofless structure ( HY520092 ) that looks mediaeval , with empty arched windows that feel vaguely churchy . Actually this is a "Gothic boathouse". Look inside and the larger seaward section is filled with what looks like the top of a giant's hogback, with a hollow underneath . Very Romantic.
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Posted by wideford
9th March 2004ce
Edited 19th June 2007ce
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