Proposed Sand and Gravel Quarry Dalmagarry Tomatin
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PROPOSED SAND AND GRAVEL QUARRY DALMAGARRY TOMATIN ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT ANNEX F CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT August 2014 Proposed sand and gravel quarry, Dalmagarry Planning reference (scoping): 14/00333/SCOP Cultural Heritage Assessment Prepared by G Geddes on behalf of Alba Archaeology (Highland) Ltd. 3 May 2014 Key project information • Project Code: DAL14 • Oasis reference: albaarch1-178246 • National Grid Reference: NH 794 318 (centre) • Author: George Geddes • Organisation/contractor: Alba Archaeology (Highland) Ltd th th • Dates of fieldwork (day/month/year): 5 and 7 April 2014 • Fieldwork conducted by (names of director, supervisor, specialists etc): George Geddes • Date report written: 3 May 2014 • Commissioning body: Brindley Consulting acting for Pat Munro Ltd The front cover shows an aerial view of the development site (in the middle ground) from the west. DP074248 © RCAHMS. The hill in the foreground has been burnt to improve cover for birds. In the middle ground, long-occupied areas of improved farmland share the lower ground with plantations. 2 Non-technical summary This report outlines the results of a cultural heritage assessment undertaken as part of the scoping exercise for a quarry at Dalmagarry. The assessment, informed by discussion with Highland Council’s Historic Environment Team, and by Historic Scotland’s scoping response, comprised a desk-based assessment and field survey. Situated at the headwaters of the Findhorn, at the very centre of Mackintosh lands, and at a key pass on the route north and south, there is considerable evidence for human activity in the area. That said, the development site may not have been either cultivated or settled, though it is close to a number of post- medieval townships and evidence for prehistoric agricultural communities . Two previously unknown archaeological features were discovered on the site. In light of lengthy discussion, these pits are interpreted here as animal-traps, probably used to catch foxes in the late 18th century. One is out with Phase 1 of quarrying, but the other would be destroyed and, therefore, could be subject to a measured survey. The recent history of the site, used as a gravel pit and forested, and the lack of evidence for other features from the 18th century or before, the recommendation is for no further archaeological work. 3 Figure 1 Site location, based on Figure 2 The development site 4 Introduction This report presents the results of a small cultural heritage assessment undertaken as part of the scoping for a proposed sand and gravel quarry at Dalmagarry (see illus 1 and 2). The report explains the aims of the project, the methodology that was used, and the results, as well as both placing the development site in its wider archaeological context, and making a recommendation for future work, in this case none. Figure 3 A general view of the previous area of gravel extraction, from the west 5 Planning background Pat Munro Ltd is considering opening a sand and gravel quarry at a site at Dalmagarry in undulating woodland accessed from the A9 Trunk Road and about 3km north of Tomatin. This development is classed as a major development under the Town and Country Planning (Hierarchy of Development) Regulations 2009 because it is a mineral working with a site area exceeding 2 hectares. The proposed quarry will require an environmental statement because it falls within Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment)(Scotland) Regulations 2011. A “screening opinion” from Highland Council has confirmed the requirement for an EIA. There are no environmental designations affecting the site or its surroundings. The Ruthven Road bridge crossing the Funtack Burn was listed at Category C in 1986. 6 Figure 4 - Funtack Bridge The Historic Environment Team (HET) of Highland Council have also been consulted and have undertaken a site visit. In an email of 7 March 2014 Kirsty Cameron of HET confirmed to the author that they do not require any work in connection with the scoping application, due in the main to the low potential for survival of archaeological sites in a development site that has been forested and partly quarried in the past. No Written Scheme of Investigation was required by HET. Historic Scotland also assessed the application and, in a letter dated 18 February 2014, Urszula Szupszynska suggested that ‘the historic environment [within their remit] can be scoped out of any EIA undertaken’ (my brackets). Historic Scotland’s remit, in relation to planning, extends to scheduled monuments and their setting, category A listed buildings and their setting, Inventory gardens and designed landscapes, and Inventory battlefields. 7 Given the responses of Historic Scotland and HET, this report is a basic statement and does not include detailed assessments of significance, impact on setting, or assessment of cumulative impact. Archaeological background Aims and objectives (drawn from project brief) Information on cultural heritage assets at the proposed development site and its environs should be collated by desk based assessment, in particular using information from Historic Scotland, Highland Council’s Historic Environment Records, Ordnance Survey Maps and the records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland. A walkover survey of the site and its environs should be undertaken to identify the condition of known heritage assets and the potential for unrecorded remains. Study methodology and outputs will require to be discussed with staff of Historic Scotland and Highland Council’s Historic Environment Team. • Identify the cultural heritage baseline within the proposed development site, and the key heritage assets within a 2km radius of the proposed development site; • Assess the proposed development site in terms of its archaeological and historic environment potential, within the context of relevant legislation and planning policy guidelines; • Consider the potential and predicted effects of the construction, and operation of the development on the baseline cultural heritage resource; • Propose measures, where appropriate, to mitigate any predicted significant adverse effects. Wider archaeological context 8 The development site is on a gravel river terrace at about 290m OD on the south side of the Funtack Burn, and within a promontory of land between the River Findhorn, flowing from south west to north east, and the Funtack. The course of the Funtack, and the Dalmagarry Burn, which joins it from the west before they merge with the Findhorn, has been modified during agricultural improvements in the late 18th and 19th century, possibly related to major flood events (Lauder 1873). Except for the higher and rough ground to the west, the ground to the north and east is heavily improved (i.e. drained, set out in rectilinear fields and enclosed). Many of the existing farm steadings in the area (e.g. Dalmagarry and Invereen) stand on the site of pre-Improvement townships, multi-tenant mixed farms predating the period 1750-1850. Thus, Invereen and Dalmagarry are both the latest incarnations of holdings with some history, which were part of the Mackintosh estate, the centre of which was the castle on Loch Moy until the 17th century or 18th century. This building on the Loch was replaced by Moy Hall which stood at the north west end of the Loch and that structure was replaced by a 20th century building which still stands. At Milton of Moy (the mill town of Moy), there are the remains of corn mill which was driven by a water wheel on the Funtack, presumably part of a system of estate thirlage, where tenants were required to have their grain milled here and to pay a tax. The Mackintosh’s came to own land in the Findhorn valley in the 12th century, and were involved in numerous important historical events during the decades before a permanent peace in the 18th century. In 1745, while Mackintosh himself fought for the Hanoverians, his wife raised men for the Jacobite cause and sheltered Prince Charles. The passing Jacobite army and the great majority of traffic north and south has long passed through this valley, providing as it does the easiest route. Thus, the 18th century military road survives in stretches nearby, and both the railway and the main road pass through this relatively narrow valley at the head of the Findhorn. Evidence from the earlier medieval period, before the established pattern of townships and Mackintosh ownership is harder to tease out, though it is of course possible that some of the townships occupy earlier holdings. Whether or not the parish church at Moy is an early foundation is difficult to say. One 9 indication of activity in the 1st millennium AD was the discovery of an incised Pictish stone during ploughing on the farm of Invereen in 1934. Gladly, the stone survived after it was donated to the National Museum, and its location is well known. Figure 5 The remains of the mill at Milton of Moy 10 Prehistoric settlement in the area is attested by a large number of hut circles, clearance cairns and field banks – elements of an agricultural landscape that may date to the Bronze Age. Two of these hut circles, apparently genuine examples, survive in the garden of the house at Milton of Moy. One other site that might yield evidence for prehistoric occupation is the crannog in Loch Moy, which, though used as a prison in the historic period, is more likely to have its origin in an earlier time. Figure 6 The slight remains of one of the hut circles at Milton of Moy Methodology The study involved two components; a desk-based assessment and a field (or walkover ) survey. The desk-based assessment was undertaken using the resources outlined in the brief (HET BRIEF): • sites and monuments records held at national and regional level: www.wosas.net http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk 11 • historic map sources, including ordnance survey maps, held at national level http://maps.nls.uk • information held by Historic Scotland in relation to scheduled ancient monuments or listed buildings A field survey was undertaken by the author on 5th April 2014, with a re-visit on 7th April 2014.