Walkover Survey in Gleann Beag

In September 2019, AOC's Inverness team carried out a walkover survey for Scottish Woodlands on the beautiful Scallasaig Stock Club near Glenelg, in the northwest Highlands. The dramatic landscape and brooding skies made for a great couple of days survey in Gleann Beag – the same glen that the famous Glenelg brochs are situated in.

The team recorded the farmstead at Suardalan, which has been on historic mapping since the 1740s, and a number of small shieling sites on the slopes of Ruighe na Corpaich and Druim Iosal. The shielings would have been used in the summertime by the communities of the glen when they drove their livestock up to the fertile pastures on the hill slopes. Most of the shielings identified weren’t shown on historic mapping which suggests they were likely no longer in use by the end of the 19th century.