The National Trust for Scotland | Education Website

Torridon is one of the most dramatic and distinctive landscapes in the British Isles, with steep-sided glens and sharp mountain ridges rising almost vertically from sea level. The overwhelming presence of nature gives visitors to this breathtaking landscape the opportunity to contemplate the fragility and scale of human existence. The long journey to reach the Torridon estate and the relative lack of evidence of human activity in the mountain core gives a sense of remoteness and wild land quality that is difficult to surpass in Britain.

Although there is comparatively little obvious evidence of the past use of the landscape, people have used the resources of the Torridon area for millennia and they have left a subtle imprint on parts of the landscape. The remains most obvious today consist of pre-clearance settlements and associated summer shieling grounds - classic examples a medieval/post-medieval West Highland historic environment. The changes wrought on the estate about 1840, with the introduction of sheep, and again in the 1870s, with the creation of the deer forest have resulted in today's pattern of settlement along the coast. This historic environment is significant because it reflects a time-depth of the past millennium through archaeological, documentary, cartographic and oral evidence.

Before the clearances of 1840-45 there were three groups of buildings making up the township of Doire nan Fuaran sited on the higher ground behind the modern village of Torridon. It is thought that the people living at Doire nan Fuaran made a living from their black cattle, along with a few goats and sheep. These animals would have been taken up to the summer shielings from May to September, away from the open runrig fields around the township. This transhumance meant that the crops of oats or barley, kale and potatoes could be grown without risk of damage from the stock. The crops were for local consumption along with fish, wild fruits or game, but the black cattle were for sale - eventually driven on foot to the southern markets many miles away.

Working with volunteers to complete the practical archaeology
Today these settlements are buried under bracken and rhododendrons and so are very difficult to protect and manage. Some are within a large field known as the Doire field. The township is known of, but it has never been accurately recorded so that it could be further researched and interpreted. Clearing the remains of the township and then surveying them would enable the NTS to assess which structures remain and what they were used for, and to discover more about the livelihoods of the people who lived here more than 200 years ago.

With two groups of volunteers, the NTS archaeologist for the Highlands and Islands region found and recorded structures from the deserted township in different areas of the Doire field. Currently infested with bracken and being invaded by rhododendrons, both of these plant species are damaging to archaeological features because their roots disturb the ground, and must be removed to ensure the continued survival and good management of the deserted township.

Each group of volunteers walked over the Doire field, cutting and dragging rhododendrons to bonfire piles and marking possible archaeological features on the way. All participants then came together to help to decide whether the stones/boulders that had been marked were really archaeological structures. Once obvious structures had been chosen, the groups worked together to pull the bracken from them and a large enough area around them so that they could clearly see what remains were present. The following day they were given drawing boards, setting-out pegs and other tools, to enable them to produce basic plans of their structures.

Results

re-growth being sprayed.
Areas of bracken were pulled across the structures with associated enclosures that were discovered. These features are therefore now visible and can be managed appropriately. Bracken will be sprayed as it comes back through in these areas so that monitoring and management can continue.
Archaeological recording was completed by offset planning, a 'low-tech' method of recording, which showed the volunteers the problems associated with recording very ruinous structures - for example, deciding whether a wall face exists or if stone tumble masks details of the construction. For the participants it was a good way of ensuring that they really studied the structures: deciding whether corners were rounded or right-angular; agreeing which parts were internal/external wall faces and which were areas of tumble; and what the sequence of construction was.
From the NTS's point of view the experience was very useful: an insight into how groups work together, how much background information they need, and how much work can be expected to be completed by volunteers.
Archaeologically, the visibility of the structures that form the cleared townships has started to improve and there is now a drawn and photographic record of some of the ruined buildings.

This short project has ensured that NTS staff can put forward a planned programme of further rhododendron and bracken clearance in the Doire field. It will provide the opportunity to undertake the necessary monitoring and further management for the archaeological features on this site.

Issues

Further clearance (including some particularly large plants) will need to be tackled as part of a community initiative to remove rhododendrons across the Torridon estate. This is a sensitive issue by the community (and therefore the NTS) because of the possibility of falls of scree due to removal of rhododendron roots and subsequent changes to the landscape.
What is the value and importance of archaeology like this to the wider management of a property such as Torridon?