LOCH BORRALIE, KYLE OF DURNESS PROJECT 950 An archaeological survey carried out on behalf of Historic Scotland Contents 1.0 Executive Summary 7 2.0 Introduction 7 3.0 Site Location, Topography and Geology 7 4.0 Archaeological and Historical Background 12 5.0 Aims and Objectives of the Fieldwork 13 6.0 Methodology 13 6.1 Desk-based Study 13 6.2 Walkover Survey 14 6.3 Detailed Recording 14 6.4 Total Station Survey and Arcview GIS 15 6.5 Artefact Recording 15 6.6 Monitoring 15 7.0 Results 15 7.1 Desk-based Study 15 7.2 Walkover Survey 26 7.3 Artefacts 41 7.4 Discussion of the Erosional Processes 47 8.0 Recommendations for Future Management and Research 48 9.0 Conclusions 50 10.0 References 51 10.1 Bibliography 51 10.2 Cartographic Sources 53 10.3 Aerial Photographs 53 11.0 Acknowledgements 53 12.0 Concordances 54 12.1 List of Photographs 54 12.2 List of Drawings 60 12.3 Entries in Parish Register 60 13.0 Appendices 65 13.1 Gazetteer of Sites 13.2 Catalogue of Artefacts Figures Figure 1 Location map 6 Figure 2 Map showing main areas of deflation and burrowing 8 Figure 3 Map showing topographic zones in the survey area 11 Figure 4 Timothy Pont's sketch map of the survey area (1590-1600) 18 Figure 5 Extract from estate map of 1798 20 Figure 6 First edition Ordnance Survey map (1874) 22 Figure 7 Archaeological sites and areas of deflation on the headland 27 Figure 8 Archaeological sites provisionally assigned period 28 Figure 9 Archaeological sites showing gazetteer number 29 Figure 10 Plan of hut circle and field wall (site 15) in zone B 32 Figure 11 Plan of sub-rectangular structure and yard (site 46) in zone C 33 Figure 12 Plan of cellular structure and cultivated ground surface (site 47) 35 Figure 13 Amber bead, glass bottle and bone artefacts 36 Figure 14 Spindle whorls 42 Figure 15 Quartzite pebble charm and frustrum headed pins 43 Figure 16 Copper alloy brooches 44 Figure 17 Bone handled knife, copper alloy buckle and round headed pin 46 Plates Plate 1 View over Loch Borralie with Cape Wrath Hotel to right and zone D deflation Front in foreground. cover: Plate 2 General shot of survey area. 10 Plate 3 Topographic zone B. 10 Plate 4 Planning underway on hut circle 15. 14 Plate 5 Erosion in zone F revealing field wall (104). 38 Plate 6 Erosion in zone H revealing length of walling (109). 47 © Glasgow University 2003 This report is one of a series published by GUARD, Gregory Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QQ 4 LOCH BORRALIE, KYLE OF DURNESS PROJECT 950 by Olivia Lelong and Gavin MacGregor . 6 1.0 Executive Summary Archaeological survey of the headland centred on Loch Borralie, on the eastern side of the Kyle of Durness, recorded nearly 200 archaeological sites. These vary from isolated, fragmentary structures or walls to extensive settlements and field systems, ranging in date from later prehistory to the Medieval period to the nineteenth century. Many of the sites are eroding out of deflated areas in the fixed dune grasslands that cover much of the headland. This report details and interprets the results of the survey and makes recommendations for the future management of the archaeological resource. The fieldwork has produced a comprehensive and detailed understanding of a rich, multi-period archaeological landscape in an area of northern Scotland that has generally been neglected in archaeological research. 2.0 Introduction This report sets out the rationale, methodology and results of a survey designed to record the archaeological remains on a headland on the Kyle of Durness in northern Sutherland, catalogue previous finds and survey and monitor the effects of erosion. The project also provided training to local volunteers and university students, and will result in the establishment of a programme of monitoring which can be carried forward by survey participants living locally. This area is extraordinarily rich in archaeological remains, a richness that has come to light through the vulnerability and progressive erosion of the remains. Intensive burrowing by rabbits, sheep grazing and wind erosion all pose a significant threat to the archaeological resource over much of the proposed survey area. Burrowing is making the turf cover susceptible to wind erosion, which is in turn creating large deflated areas in the dunes. The recent rescue excavation of burials in the survey area (MacGregor 2000) and the examination of the coastal strip during the Sutherland Coastal Survey (Brady Morris 1998), both on behalf of Historic Scotland, brought the authors’ attention to this threat. Indeed, the burials were revealed through rabbit burrowing. However, the area has been regularly walked over the years by local inhabitants, some of whom have observed the rates of erosion of deflating dunes and have collected and recorded surface finds of various periods from them. Over the past 20 years, many artefacts have been collected from the surface of deflated areas by local people. Some of the collectors have logged the locations of finds and submitted them to the National Museum of Scotland for characterisation and finds disposal. They have also observed the rate of erosion of deflated areas, and their photographs and notes confirm that the threat to the archaeology is serious and escalating. These processes are exposing and destroying an extremely rich, multi-period complex of archaeological remains, in an area of northern Scotland that has been understudied and is poorly understood for most periods. The fieldwork has consisted of systematic description and mapping of these remains, and was designed to further our understanding of the area’s past and of its archaeological resource. It has also aimed to create a mechanism for monitoring ongoing rabbit and wind erosion, training local volunteers in archaeological recording, and highlighting specific areas requiring emergency or longer-term management measures. 3.0 Site Location, Topography and Geology The survey area is a large headland on the eastern side of the Kyle of Durness, to the south of Balnakeil Bay, south-west of the village of Durness and north-west of Keoldale (Figure 1). Three lochs – Borralie, Croispol and Lanlish – dominate the eastern part of the headland. The survey area extends from the west sides of lochs Borralie and Croispol to the shores of the Kyle. It excludes the area of Durness Golf Course in the north-eastern part of the headland, which surrounds Loch Lanlish; it also excludes the area of a fenced-off forestry plantation. The survey area measures roughly 2.3 km by 1.1 km (Figure 1). 7 Figure 2: 8 It is a landscape of undulating grassland overlying fixed dunes. The solid geology of the area is limestone, which trends NNE/SSW and outcrops in long dykes, especially in the western part of the survey area. The calcareous and freely draining nature of the local soils has produced a green and fertile pocket of the land, including the survey area and stretching eastward along the coast of Durness parish, unusual in the typically acidic and peaty northern Highlands. The headland has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and has also been recommended as a candidate Special Area of Conservation for its fixed dunes, limestone pavements, alpine and subalpine calcareous grasslands and hard mesotephic waters, for all of which it is considered one of the best areas in the UK. The headland also supports a significant presence of otter, alkaline fens, European dry heaths, humid dune slacks, hydrophilous tall herb fringe communities, Northern Atlantic wet heaths and shifting dunes along the shoreline. The area is subject to severe gales during the autumn and winter, particularly from the south-west. Rabbit burrowing and sheep grazing disturb the turf and expose the loose sand beneath, which is then vulnerable to wind erosion (Figure 2). The erosion denudes large areas of turf covering, and further burrowing and sheep disturbance undermine the sides of blown-out areas and loosen the sand so that it is more easily removed by wind. Thus, the local weather patterns and the abundant rabbit and sheep population conspire to create a cycle of disturbance and erosion, each exacerbating the effects of the other. Fairly discrete zones with differing topographic character and vegetation cover make up the survey area; these are shown on Figure 3. Zone A, at the south-eastern corner of the survey area, is an open, south- east facing grassy slope with some bracken cover and areas of deflation in its lower reaches. Zone B is a broad, open valley or basin that dominates the southern part of the survey area. It runs broadly north/south, bordered by low ridges to the west and east. Its narrower upper part widens out into a basin in the centre and narrows again as the valley runs down to the Kyle of Durness (Plate 2). It is generally under short turf cover, with marram grass on the stabilised dunes and in patches on the base of the valley. Stabilised (but currently burrowed) dunes run north-east/south-west from its eastern side, and there are large deflated areas along the edges and base of the valley (Plate 3). The ridge to the east, Zone C, is punctuated by several small valleys running eastward toward Loch Borralie. It lies mainly under thick turf, but there are active dunes and deflated areas, as well as a large stablised sand blow, along it. Zone D borders the ridge to the east and runs along the shore of Loch Borralie. It consists of steep slopes descending to the lochside; these are interrupted by terraces, especially in the northern part.