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The Highlands and Islands have an abundance of archaeo-
logical sites surviving from the medieval period. They include
a wide range of ecclesiastical buildings, from St Mary's abbey
at lona to the remains of simple twelfth-century chapels, from
elaborate standing crosses to equally ornamental grave-slabs.
Strongholds also abound, from early castles of enclosure that
were continually elaborated over the medieval and early
modern periods, and which are still inhabited today, to castles
that saw little elaboration and were abandoned by the end of
the medieval period. Though we know less about them,
many ordinary peasant settlements have also survived in some
abundance. Recent surveys, including richly-detailed
landscape surveys carried out by the Royal Commission on
the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
(RCAHMS), have highlighted just how many traces of
ordinary peasant settlements have survived in the landscape,
from concentrations of dwellings and outbuildings beside
their former arable to shieling sites on their hill pasture. Some
have survived in such detail as to require little imagination to
repeople them in the mind.
Sites marked HS are opened to the public by Historic
Scotland.
Sites to See
Argyll and Bute
Bonawe, Taynuilt, Argyll. Charcoal-burning blast furnace,
erected in t?j3. The Bonawe furnace relied on coppiced
wood from surrounding woodlands, both beside Lochs
Etive and Awe and from Mull. (HS) NN 0093 18 8
Castle Stalker, Appin. A ¡6th-century tower house inhabited
by the Stewarts of Appin. NM 920473
Castle Sween, Argyll. A late 12th-century castle of enclosure.
Abandoned in the 1 7th century. (HS) NR 713 789
Finlaggan, Islay. Finlaggan consists of two small islands at the
east end of Loch Finlaggan. It was a key site for the
Lordship of the Isles. Situated on one of the two islands
was the residence of the Lord of the Isles, as well as his
chapel. The other, known as Council Isle, was occupied
by the hall in which the Council of the Lordship met, as
well as by other contemporary buildings. Recent
excavations have shown that Council Isle was also the site
of an earlier i3th-century castle and, at a still earlier date,
an Iron Age dun, suggesting that it had long been a focus
of lordship. NR 388681 1
Iona. St Mary's Abbey, Nunnery and St Oram's Chapel
Buildings, as well as crosses and grave-slabs. (HS) NM
287244, NM 287245 and NM 284240
Keills, Mid Argyll. Medieval chapel, with examples of late
medieval monumental sculpture. (HS) NR 690806
Mingary Castle, Ardnamurchan. A t3th-century castle of
enclosure built on a small rock outcrop beside the shore. It
underwent internal changes down until the 18th century.
NM 5oz63 1

Oronsay Priory, Oronsay. The remains of a late 14th-centur-y
Augustinian priory, founded with the help of the Lord of
the Isles. NR349889
Grampian
Glen More Forest. Surviving remnants of the native Highland
pine forest can be seen in a number of areas. That at Glen
More, near Aviemore, and that at Rothiemurchus, a few
mites to the west, are two of the more easily accessible.
NH 98oogo, NH 92oo8o
Upper Dee valley, Braemar area. The remains of former
shieling sites occur on hill ground across the region, mostly
between 300 and Soo metres. Examples can be found along
the upper part of the Dee valley, part of the Mar Lodge
estate. NO ooo855 to NO o4G8yy
Perthshire and Kinross
Glen Shee. A relatively well-preserved former landscape of
pre-C;learance and pre-Improvement dwellings,
outbuildings and kailyards, as well as associated cultivation
rigs, can be seen extending along the Glen from the
church at Spittal of Glenshee to Dalmunzie. NO ?oc?7ot 1
to NO 092709
Balquhidder. The area beside Loch Voil, running west of
Balquhidder. was once part of a royal hunting forest, and
actively used by the Crown as such during the 15th
century. NN S3Gzo7
Ross and Cromarty
Foulis Kent House, Ross and Cromarty. Built in the mid-
t8th century as a storehouse for grain gathered in from the
estate owned by the Munros of Foulis. NH S9)G36
Ullapool, Wester Ross. A planned fishing village based on
fisher-crofts laid out in 1788 by the British Fisheries
Society. The grid plan of the village is still clearly evident.
NH 126944 to NH 127939
Skye and Lochalsh
Armadale, The Clan Donald Centre. The Clan Donald
centre provides much information for the history of a
major Highland clan grouping, the clan Donald.
NG637043
Eilean Donan Castle, Lochalsh. Built in the '4th century.
The relatively unmodified main hall at Eilean Donan
Castle illustrates the sort of hall in which chiefly feasts
would have taken place. NG882258
Unish, Watternish, Skye. Tacksman's house, tenant houses
and enclosures at the northern tip of Waternish. NG
239658
Sutherland
Strathnaver, Sutherland. Cleared by the Sutherland estates in
t 8 y, the abandoned sites of some of its former touns can
be seen at Grumbeg and Grumore on the north bank of
Loch Naver, at Bas an Leathaid and at Rosal. NC 634384,
NC Go83G7, NC 7oi3lo, NC 689416.
Western Isles
Arnol, Lewis No 42, restored blackhouse. (HS) NB 310494

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