Life and Death in Assynt's Past

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The LDAP project will focus its efforts on three sites, a Neolithic chambered cairn, an Iron Age broch and a post-Medieval cleared township.

Clachtoll Broch

Clachtoll broch is one of the most spectacular Iron Age settlements in NW Scotland. Situated on a rocky knoll near the sandy beach at Clachtoll, the wall of this monumental roundhouse still stands to over 3m in height in places and the lintels still cap the guard cells and wall chambers. Brochs were numerous and widespread in the north and west in Iron Age Scotland, and were being built in some places by around 500 BC. Many, however, continued in use well into the first millennium AD going through many changes in form throughout this time.

Coastal erosion has claimed around a quarter of the circuit of the broch and collapse and removal of rubble has caused the entrance passage to be unstable, and several of the lintels in the passage are cracked and in need of repair. The LDAP project aims to stabilise the entrance passage and prevent further collapse, by excavating the walls and surrounding loose rubble, before repairing and supporting the lintels.

Loch Borralan Chambered Cairn

The area around Lyne and Ledbeg, in the south of Assynt, hosts a very dense population of Neolithic chambered cairns. Along the shore of Loch Borralan, four chambered cairns are situated in close proximity to one another, overlooking the loch and with spectacular views of Suilven to the north. One of these cairns, Loch Borralan East, is the target of our excavations.

Chambered cairns were monumental tombs, built by the first farming communities in Scotland. They are often situated in spectacular locations, with good views over nearby valley floors: in Assynt, as in other areas, they are often situated on the margins of viable agricultural land and upland moor. These massive stone structures housed the remains of the ancestors of nearby farmers, and were often the focus of ritual activity.

The Loch Borralan East chambered cairn is one of the more accessible sites in the area, and the chamber is accesible through the collapsed roof. The form of the cairn is unusual, and may incoporate elements of both round, single-chambered cairns and trapezoidal long cairns; establishing the form and date of each of the structural elements is one of the main aims of the project.

Glenleraig

Glenleraig is one of Assynt’s best preserved post-Medieval townships. Surveyed in detail as part of the Hidden Lives project, the secluded wooded glen contains over 50 structures, enclosures and field systems.