Souterrain (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NC 591 556
Also Known as:
- Canmore ID 5343
- Dionaite
Archaeology & History
Location of Deanside souterrain
Nothing now remains of the prehistoric underground chamber, “eirde House” (as they were called) or souterrain, that was reported by the northern antiquarian James Horsburgh when he was exploring the sites here in the 1860s. Found near Deanside a couple of miles south of Tongue, alongside the edge of the Allt an Dionaite (Deanside Burn), even in his day there wasn’t much of it left. It was one of a number of souterrains in the region that he was shown, presumably by local people, telling us briefly that,
“Near Deanside, there were remains of the end of another (souterrain) on the bank of the burn, but it has since been washed away in a flood.”
In an exploration up the side of the burn today, I could find no remains whatsoever; although I didn’t walk too far up and have a feeling that its position would have been further up than where I got to. In a brief chat with some of the old people living in the neighbourhood, they told me they had no memory of the site.
References:
- Horsburgh, James, “Notes of Cromlechs, Duns, Hut-circles, Chambered Cairns and other Remains, in the County of Sutherland“, in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 7, 1870.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
