Another Stone Circle

I was out this morning in the wild and open moorland between Loch Mudle and Camas nan Geall with Allyson and Andrew Perkins to map the stone circle they've found.  It's about 10 metres in diameter and almost perfectly circular except on the northern side.  Andrew mapped it from a one-metre square grid on the ground created from lengths of rope.  It's hard work, but each time we do it the process becomes a little more refined.

This is the third stone circle which members of the Ardnamurchan Community Archaeology group have located and, more and more, we're beginning to think that they're the remains of Bronze Age huts, which makes them about 2,000 years old.  The stones formed a low wall from which branches were laid to form a conical roof, which was covered with reeds, heather and turfs.  This large hut may have been a communal one; there were signs of a second, much smaller circle nearby.

The weather continued grey with a stiff and chilly southeasterly, but there were signs of it clearing away to the north - this view looks across Loch Mudle to Eigg.

On the way back these two stags were resting near the road.  The one on the right has lost one of his antlers.

I stopped the car and sat very quietly to watch them, but some workmen were nearby and disturbed them.  They stood but didn't move off.

When the left stag turned away he, too, had lost an antler.  These may have been broken in the rut but it's also the time of year when they start to fall off naturally.