It seems this month is Hut Circle Month, following a trip up Glen Moy the other week but this time the destination was Shinigag. In from Blair Atholl and parking at the official parking area by Loch Moraig and near Monzie farm.
At last, also getting the use of my ebike** and the reason to purchase it, being able to travel into areas thus avoiding a long walk when my right leg unfortunately becomes these days rather painful, it goes numb after a few miles, especially on hard ground, less so on rough and soft ground. I cycled somewhat precariously at times (it's not a mountain bike) to Shinigag a long established sheep station and bothy, water but no electricity for those that once lived permanently there. From Shinigag I walked north west a short distance to some hut circles that I had noted on aerial interpretation. As per Trove (Link) called Allt Na Coille. I hadn’t walked to the site prior to recording that is something I prefer to do. By walking over a site you pick up a lot more about the location, not just confirming the site but also frequently as here identify other related potential sites.
The main recorded and clearly seen from aerial double banked hut circle (Ring-ditch house) is as described and well defined. It sits on an elevated flattish area (top pic) with commanding views to the East and around to the West. The other noted on Trove is a little uphill to the North. I was curious about other potential circles that are less defined. So definitely two hut circles (2nd with tape measure) and I would now confidently add another ‘possible' one or two. I also suspect more in this location will be found. The one just to the north of the second confirmed site is much smaller and is odd in that there is a much wider gap/entrance to the west, so this could at a guess be an enclosure of sorts rather than a dwelling, hence some doubt to it being a hut circle but it is slightly banked and circular. The other is to the north west and is ill defined but there is a clear entrance to the south east, banked to the west though much reduced to the east, circular in form. It measures roughly in line with the others (except pos. enclosure) at approximately 13.7m.
There are a lot of hut circles in the wider area (see my map) so I’m not pinpointing anything unique here but once recorded they add to the wider landscape and how it was populated in the past. Hut circles it seems are difficult to accurately date without a full excavation and chance of finds or dating evidence (carbon dating), often mentioned as bronze to iron age though I suspect they in certain locations were present in more recent times, perhaps as a non expert guess to early medieval. One question therefore is what was in-between these and the more recent medieval/post medieval shieling/settlement sites. It seems odd to think that the landscape ceased to accommodate people in one way or another for so long a gap. A side note about this latter point; reforesting (even when no forest as such existed ever or for centuries) can and will obliterate traces and even more contemporary archaeology. Planting on enclosure dykes included, as noted in the area.
A final quick visit to two side by side bothies near Shinigag slightly curtailed by a little encroaching rain that…; well someone built and lived in them, thus of note and always worth a visit.
While packing up and helmet on head (am I the only one who feels a right pillock wearing these if rightly a life saver ?) to head back a pickup pulled up, it turned out to be the local shepherd and stalker (Sandy), a friendly chat but what struck me was that here was someone making a living with family and caring for the landscape as so many had done in various ways centuries before.
I waited back at the carpark a bit for the eclipse but though it got slightly darker the increasingly thickening cloud in the area could have just as well been the cause. A disappointment but not the end of the world thankfully, I’ve seen a partial eclipse before. In the time of the hut circles and even the shielings such an event, unknown most likely to the inhabitants will have come as quite a surprise, or even one of foreboding.
** If you can walk then walk and enjoy the connection with the earth and wider landscape but if using a bike then stay off footpaths, clue is in the name.
Images(from top): Looking across main hut circle, view south; 2nd hut circle measuring diameter; Entrance to new hut circle; Carn Liath from Shinigag, morning sunshine; Carn Liath from carpark, start of eclipse.