Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line Desk Based and Walk-Over
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Highland Archaeology Services Ltd Bringing the past and future together Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line Desk Based and Walk-over Survey 7 Duke Street Cromarty Ross-shire IV11 8YH Tel / Fax: 01381 600491 Mobile: 07834 693378 Email: [email protected] Web: www.hi-arch.co.uk VAT No. 838 7358 80 Registered in Scotland no. 262144 Registered Office: 10 Knockbreck Street, Tain, Ross-shire IV19 1BJ Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line: Desk-based and Walk-over Survey 2008 Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line Desk Based and Walk-over Survey Client Scottish and Southern Energy Date 9 October 2008 (revision) Report No. HAS081002 Project HAS/KDN08 Author Cait McCullagh 2 Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line: Desk-based and Walk-over Survey 2008 Contents INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................3 LOCATION ....................................................................................................................4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES .............................................................................................4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE ................. 5 METHOD .......................................................................................................................6 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...........................................................22 APPENDIX 1: TABLE OF FEATURES ......................................................................23 APPENDIX 2: TABLE OF PHOTOGRAPHS .............................................................28 APPENDIX 3: MAPS AND PLANS ............................................................................76 Acknowledgements Fieldwork was carried out by Cait McCullagh. We wish to thank the client, SSE Power Distribution, for commissioning this report and to Sylvina Tilbury and to Alex Du Toit at Highland Council for their assistance with locating copies of aerial photographs and the 6 inch Ordnance Survey map series. This report was edited by John Wood. Background mapping has been reproduced by permission of the Ordnance Survey under Licence 100043217. Introduction A desk based assessment and walk-over survey was conducted in August 2008 to establish as far as possible the nature and extent of any archaeology likely to be affected by the construction of a new wood pole overhead line (OHL) between Ardendrain and Culnakirk; Kiltarlity – Drumnadrochit Route. This report summarises the results. 3 Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line: Desk-based and Walk-over Survey 2008 Location As requested by the Highland Council, the present survey covered the proposed overhead line between Ardendrain (NH 51144 38388) and Culnakirk (NH 49873 30900). Figure 1 Location For details see Appendix 3 Aims and Objectives The overall aims of this assessment are to identify any recorded archaeological sites or features that might be affected by this work; propose mitigation or recording as appropriate to ensure that archaeological evidence is not unnecessarily damaged or destroyed; and to minimize any possible delay or costs to the development by anticipating any archaeological requirements as far as possible, timetabling and integrating archaeological recording work with the project, and dealing with any issues arising quickly and efficiently. 4 Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line: Desk-based and Walk-over Survey 2008 Archaeological Background and Cultural Significance Situated within the historic parishes of Kiltarlity and Glenconvinth, and Urquhart and Glenmoriston, , the current and proposed wood pole overhead lines cross a variety of archaeological sites and features representing in all some six thousand years of human activity. Previous commentators have suggested that the place-name Glen Convinth is a possible corruption of the descriptive name, Glen Convent1, inferring a, probably, medieval Christian Foundation, the putative remains of which were recorded in the early 19th Century2. Convinth was established as a parish in 12213. Graves occupy the interior of the relic church and the associated graveyard is still in use. There are reports of a now lost sculptured stone in the church graveyard; an early 20th c. account describes this as depicting a horse and rider may suggest an early mediaeval date (300AD – 1000AD)4. Geographically close to the location of Castle Urquhart, associated, traditionally, with the activities of the medieval order of the Knights Templar, it may be that the area attracted associated high status ecclesiastical settlements5, perhaps including the presumed convent. A number of the structural remains of the dispersed crofting townships of Glenconvinth, Duallon and Fanblair are identifiable on the 1st Edition of the Ordnance Survey 6 inch map (Inverness-shire, 1875, Sheet xviii6). These and the variety of non-structural remains of undated, medieval (800AD – 1559AD) and post-medieval (1560AD – 1900AD) land-management - including relic rig and furrow remains at Lochan Dubh7 - are evidence of intensive farming , as attested to, at least in the 18th and 19th centuries, by the First and Second Statistical Accounts (OSA and NSA) for Kiltarlity and Glenconvinth and Urquhart and Glenmoriston8. 1 OSA. 1799, ‘Kiltarlity, county of Inverness, Presbytery of Inverness, Synod of Moray, by Rev. Mr John Fraser’ in, The Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh, vol. 13, http://stat‐acc‐scot.edina.ac.uk/ [30/09/08] 2 Anderson, G. 1834, (1st edition) Guide to the Highlands and islands of Scotland, including Orkney and Zetland: descriptive of their scenery, statistics, antiquities and natural history. Edinburgh 3 Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments in Scotland (RCAHMS), www.rcahms.gov.uk [30/09/08] 4 Wallace, T. 1911, 'Notes on some sculptured slabs and headstones in the churchyards of Glenconvinth and Kirkhill, Inverness‐shire' in, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 45, 1910‐11, pp. 309‐11, 5 OSA 1799, ‘Urquhart and Glenmoriston, county of Inverness, Synod of Glenelg, Presbytery of Abertarf’ in, The Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh, vol. 13, http://stat‐acc‐scot.edina.ac.uk/ [30/09/08] The Celtic church in Scotland: a study of its penetration lines and art relationships 6 http://geo.nls.uk/os6inch/google.html [30/09/08] 7 Historic Environment Record, Highland Council, http://her.highland.gov.uk/ [07/08/08]; Jacks, S. E. (ed.) 1989, Some unrecorded sites in the Aird noted between Oct. 1987 and May 1989. Inverness Field Club: Inverness 8 OSA. 1799, ‘Kiltarlity, county of Inverness, Presbytery of Inverness, Synod of Moray, by Rev. Mr John Fraser’ in, The Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh, vol. 13; OSA 1799, ‘Urquhart and Glenmoriston, county of Inverness, Synod of Glenelg, Presbytery of Abertarf’ in, ibid NSA. 1845, ‘Kiltarlity, county of Inverness, Synod of Moray, by Rev. C Fraser, Minister’ in, The New Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh, vol. 14; NSA. 1845, ‘United Parishes of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, Presbytery of Abertarf, Synod of Glenelg, by the Rev. James Donne Smith, Minister’ in ibid. http://stat‐acc‐scot.edina.ac.uk/ [30/09/08] 5 Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit Overhead Line: Desk-based and Walk-over Survey 2008 Pre-historic cultivation, settlement and ritual activity is also very evident along the western and eastern slopes of Glen Convinth. Cup-marked stones, such as those recorded at Culnakirk and Clachmor9, are mostly associated with the Neolithic period (4000BC – 2401BC). Various Bronze Age (2400BC – 551BC) field system, clearance cairns and hut circles are also found – for example in Easter Cudrish and Creag Ard10. Cup-marked stones and a burnt mound are found close together near Easter Balnagrantach.11 Overall the range of sites and features recorded suggests the wider area is part of a a corridor of Neolithic and Bronze Age high status and funerary ritual sites extending from Beauly to the shores of Loch Ness12. Method DeskBased Assessment The drawings as supplied by the client were checked in detail against the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 Map of the proposed route, the National Monuments Record of Scotland and the Highland Council’s Historic Environment Record, as well as historical maps and aerial photographs available at the Highland Council’s offices in Inverness or online. The offices of the Highland Council Historic Environment Record were visited on 5th – 6th August 2008, when relevant archaeological reports and the RAF vertical aerial photographs taken in 1946 were examined. The National Monuments Record for Scotland, the 6 inch Ordnance Survey map series, and the map collections of the National Library of Scotland were studied online13 and at the premises of the Highland Council Archives. The Old and New Statistical Accounts for the Parishes of Kiltarlity and Glenconvinth and Urquhart and Glenmoriston were also accessed and researched online14. Other literary sources were also consulted. 9 Jolly, W. 1882, 'On cup‐marked stones in the neighbourhood of Inverness; with an appendix on cup‐marked stones in the Western Islands' in, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 16, 1881‐2, p.376 10 Wordsworth, J. 1995a, An Archaeological Assessment of Land at Coul – na – kirk, Glenurquhart. Wordsworth Archaeological Services: Balnain, Glenurquhart; Wordsworth, J. 1995b, An Archaeological Survey of Proposed Plantation