26 March 2013

 As part of the Burn of Whilk, Caithness windfarm development RWE npower renewables (RWE NRL) commissioned a LiDAR survey of the area in and around their development. This includes Warehouse, Watenan and Yarrows. The survey revealed that that there may be many new sites of archaeological significance hidden beneath the ground that have not been previously identified through previous surveys.

RWE NRL has commissioned AOC Archaeology to undertake a walkover survey of some of the area to find out what the lumps and bumps are.

To this end, Andy Heald and John Barber (AOC Archaeology) will be undertaking a survey project on and around the Burn of Whilk Wind Farm site between 20th and 31st March 2013. John and Andy are keen to involve as many people as possible. Volunteers can come for any length of time and require no previous experience. As well as taking part in hopefully discovering new sites all volunteers will also be trained in all aspects of surveying and will have the opportunity to attend tours of other local archaeological sites. During March focus will be on looking at some of the possible new sites discovered during the LiDAR survey, particularly around the actual development area. AOC hope to visit all of the sites over the coming year. The results of the survey will be used to aid interpretation of the area over the next year.

If you would like to take part please contact Andy Heald at andy.heald@aocarchaeology.com or phone 07824562186

26 March 2013

RCAHMS staff Eve Boyle  and Piers Dixon have kindly agreed to accompany North of Scotland Archaeological Society members and ARCH supportors on two walks on Tuesday and Wednesday 26th & 27th March.

Tues 26th March we will look at sites on the Black Isle, visiting the distillery site, settlement and chambered cairn at Mulchaich Farm, near Alcaig in the morning and Ormond Castle, Avoch in the afternoon.

The Mulchaich site is the subject of an Adopt-A-Monument project by NOSAS; Ormond Castle is the site of a medieval castle, but deserves further attention.

Meet 10am at the Ferintosh Free Church Car Park (NH 575 568) from where it is just a short walk round the corner. Once on the site the going is quite rough and can be wet in places so wear boots. For lunch we can get soup and sandwiches at the Station Hotel in Avoch. Then for Ormond Castle meet at 2.30pm, parking at the bend in the road at the south end of Avoch village along the coast (GR NH 698 543) from where it is a short walk along the coast, then steeply up a small path to the castle (less than 1km in total). Again wear boots. Please car pool if possible to the parking place.

Come for either of the half days or both.

Many thanks to Meryl Marshall of NOSAS for organising these two days. If you intend to come along on the walks, it would be appreciated it if you would notify the ARCH office, so we have some idea of numbers.