Last weekend, on a beautiful day, we climbed Beinn na h-Urchrach, enjoying the emptiness and silence of the area.No-one lives on its slopes today. Its only human visitors are walkers, like ourselves, enjoying West Ardnamurchan's wonderful landscapes, the occasional hunter - the land is part of Ardnamurchan Estate, which hosts stalkers and fishermen - and the occasional shepherd checking the scattered groups of blackface sheep. Yet there are tantalising signs that this bleak landscape supported more permanent habitation in times gone by.
By comparison, the flat land around the mountain's base was extensively worked, the straight drainage ditches clearly visible. It is interesting to speculate how large a population these fields could have supported, and where the people actually lived, because there is no sign of their houses.
Tucked in to one of the small valleys that runs off the mountain is a short section of stone wall. It is right beside the burn, just below a waterfall. It seems a pointless construction, unless one can imagine branches placed from the wall to the bank on the right to form a shelter. Even then, it is difficult to believe anyone lived there for any length of time.
High on the steep hill at the east end of Beinn na h-Urchrach is this pile of rocks. It isn't a cairn - there are two of them at either end of the elongated summit. It looks as if it is the remains of a horseshoe-shaped wall, behind which someone may have sat, for it has a spectacular and wide view, and would have been ideal for keeping watch for anyone approaching, either from the north coast or along the old road which came in from the east and ran along the bottom of the hill.
Enlarge this picture and find, marked with a red arrow, a pile of stones just on the other side of the burn. There's some evidence that this was a small dwelling, that the flat terrace land above it and some other patches of land in the surrounding area were worked.
Whoever lived here dug the abundant peat, some of which is good quality. They didn't take this off the hill - it would have been far to far to transport - but these small workings add weight to the idea that people lived here, if only in summer in so-called shielings.
By comparison, the flat land around the mountain's base was extensively worked, the straight drainage ditches clearly visible. It is interesting to speculate how large a population these fields could have supported, and where the people actually lived, because there is no sign of their houses.
Tucked in to one of the small valleys that runs off the mountain is a short section of stone wall. It is right beside the burn, just below a waterfall. It seems a pointless construction, unless one can imagine branches placed from the wall to the bank on the right to form a shelter. Even then, it is difficult to believe anyone lived there for any length of time.
High on the steep hill at the east end of Beinn na h-Urchrach is this pile of rocks. It isn't a cairn - there are two of them at either end of the elongated summit. It looks as if it is the remains of a horseshoe-shaped wall, behind which someone may have sat, for it has a spectacular and wide view, and would have been ideal for keeping watch for anyone approaching, either from the north coast or along the old road which came in from the east and ran along the bottom of the hill.So there were people living and working in this landscape. On our walk we had a surprise. We are so accustomed to roaming these hills and seeing no-one that we were quite surprised to see four figures moving along the skyline some half-a-mile from where we stood, walkers on their way up Ben Hiant.
A map of the area is here.
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