Building record MAB30942 - BLACK BOTHY

Remains of a group of structures comprising at least two buildings and fifteen huts, surveyed by RCAHMS in May 1993.

Remains of a group of structures comprising at least two buildings and fifteen huts, surveyed by RCAHMS in May 1993. The buildings stand on the west side of the burn and belong to different periods. The earlier building, with turf and stone walls, measures circa 9.5m x 7.6m, and has a small enclosure on its east-southeast side. Stubs of a stony bank, perhaps the remains of an earlier structure, protrude from beneath the corners of the building. The second building lies circa 3m to the south of the first, and overlies a short stretch of bank which springs from the southwest corner of the earlier structure. It measures circa 5.2m x 3.8m, is constructed of faced-rubble walls, and is divided into two compartments. To the northwest of the earlier building there are the robbed remains of what may be another building, measuring circa 10.5m x 5.5m, with turf and stone walls, and appears to have a later platform built into its northwest end. The huts lie on the east side of the burn, in a rough line circa 250m long. They are mostly sub-rectangular in shape, range in length from 3.6m to 9.5m and in breadth 2.6m to 5.5m with turf and stone walls. There is some evidence that they are not all contemporary, as one overlies another. John Farquharson's map of the Forest of Mar (1703) depicts this site, named as 'Boandu Geoldie', 'Boandu' probably being a contraction of 'Bothan Dunh' or 'Black Bothy'. On the 1st edition OS map, a single roofless building is shown, with a benchmark on its south-southwest end wall, which appears to correspond with the second building described above. Walkover survey was carried out by Highland Archaeology Services in December 2021 to inform proposed planting in the adjacent area. This confirmed the present of fourteen features located along the burn pertaining to the Black Bothy and shielings site. Broadly there are three categories of feature: remains of an upstanding stone structure, shielings and turf covered footings of possible shielings and storage structures or pits. The latter include two pits to the northeast of the previously recorded features.

RCAHMS, 1995, MAR LODGE ESTATE SURVEY (Bibliographic reference). SAB1578.

RCAHMS, 1996, MAR LODGE, CONDITION SURVEY, p14 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1586.

CONDITION SURVEY

RCAHMS, 1996, MAR LODGE: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF A CAIRNGORM ESTATE. , Leaflet photo (Bibliographic reference). SAB3080.

JAMIESON, F, 1998, MAR LODGE ESTATE VOLI, DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH, p.58 (Bibliographic reference). SAB924.

HIGHLAND ARCHAEOLOGY SERVICES, 2022, BLACK BOTHY, BRAEMAR, ARCHAEOLOGICAL WALKOVER SURVEY: SUMMARY REPORT V.2, Walkover survey (Bibliographic reference). SAB5942.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2022 3:59PM