Portnancon
The basement of Portnancon (also called Port na Con, Laid or An Leabaidh-fholaich '- the hidden place 1874 - or An Tigh Fo Thalaidh - the house underground in 1908 -) is located on Loch Eriboll near Durness in the Scottish region Sutherland County in the Highlands . It is one of 40 basements in Sutherland. In the case of the basement, a basic distinction is made between "rock-cut", "earth-cut", "stone built" and "mixed" basements.
The low, 0.8 m wide entrance to the well-preserved basement is marked by two stone mounds on the east side of the street. It was closed by a 1.06 m long and 0.75 m high plate that is now next to it. A steep, slippery entrance of 12 steps leads into a low 3.0 m long corridor, which widens to the left and ends in a damp chamber. The approximately 8.2 m long and between 1.3 and 1.65 m high facility was filled with earth and stones. The convex quarry stone walls were about 1.5 m wide halfway up. In the north-east corner of the chamber, a 60 cm deep depression with a diameter of 1.2 m was found in the floor.
Portnancon was excavated by RJ Buxton in the early 1930s, who then unsuccessfully laid a pipe to drain the water. During the excavation, apart from bone fragments, which were too small for identification, only a spiral-shaped finger ring and a spherical bronze object with impact marks were found. There is a small hill above the basement, which presumably contains the remains of a hut that has not been investigated.
See also
literature
- RJ Buxton: Earth-house at Portnancon, Sutherland. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 69, 1934/1935, ISSN 0081-1564 , pp. 431-433 .
- Joanna Close-Brooks: Exploring Scotland's heritage. The highlands. HMSO, Edinburgh 1986, ISBN 0-11-492460-0 .
- Robert Gourlay, Sutherland - a historical guide , Birlinn, Edinburgh, 1996 ISBN 1-874744-44-0 p. 93
Web links
Coordinates: 58 ° 30 ′ 40.7 " N , 4 ° 41 ′ 59.2" W.