ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MHG10266

Name: Kinbrace Drove Stance

Summary: A two-compartment enclosure probably constructed as a drove stance.

Grid Reference: NC866286

Civil Parish: Kildonan

Geographical Area: Sutherland

Date of Survey: 26 January 2012

Monument Type: Stock enclosure

Full Description: The stance is situated on a grassy haugh on the east bank of the River Helmsdale and consists of a rectangular enclosure with two compartments. The earthen dykes are up to one metre in height but are poorly preserved and discontinuous in places. In the south dyke there is a probable entrance near the south east corner and a second gap further to the west.

A mound ten metres north of the enclosure is suggestive of a small building but might be a natural feature.

It is likely that two drove roads from the north converged at or near to this location – the Ca na Catanach (MHG 835) from Caithness and the route from Syre in Strathnaver – while the drove road south from this point enters the hill ground near Borrobol and continues to Invershin. The stance lies 3.5 km south of the site of the former drovers’ inn at Achentoul. It is possible that the stance passed out of use when this inn (which is likely to have had its own stance) came into operation, or it may have been used as an alternative site for assembling droves and holding them overnight.

The monument is currently recorded as a Stock Enclosure but its configuration and location indicates that it was probably a drove stance.

Other References: Rev Donald Sage, in ‘Parish Life in the North of Scotland’, wrote: About three miles below, the river receives a considerable addition to its volume by the water of Strathbeag which, rising about eight miles to the N.E., there joins the Helmisdale. The place was called Duallach, and was the stance of a considerable cattle-market. The drove stance is about 2 km downstream from the confluence described by Sage.