Torthigh East

This record refers to one of three conjoined clochans or ‘beehive’ huts (MA016-003001-; MA016-003002-; MA016-003003-), named Torthigh beg, Torthigh more and Torthigh East on the 1838 and 1921 OS 6-inch maps. Remnants of one clochan still stand. Two of the clochans have collapsed and low grass-covered undulations may indicate their location. An account of the clochans in the 1838 OS Letters tell us that they were broadly oval in plan, with stone-built walls constructed using a corbelling technique so that they inclined inwards to create a domed roof. The largest clochan (Torthigh more) (int. diam. 4.5-5m) was accessed from the exterior through two doorways, one at N and one at E. At that date the E doorway was blocked but the N doorway was described as ‘wide on the outside and gradually narrows towards the inside, it being four feet wide [1.2m] on the outside, and three [0.9m] on the inside. It is covered overhead with three large flags and you descend by stone steps, now covered with sand, till you enter the house.’ Another internal doorway led from the large clochan into the interior of the smallest clochan (Torthigh beg) (diam. c. 3m) which was conjoined to it at WNW. The third clochan (Torthigh East) was conjoined to the NE side of the largest clochan and had one doorway opening to the exterior at NE. Its roof had already collapsed at this date. (O’Flanagan 1927, 104-105 (201-202)). When seen by Henri (1945, 148-150) in the early 1940’s, the NW clochan was already ‘nearly completely ruined’. She gives the diameter of the large clochan as 15 feet [4.5m] and that of the NE clochan as 13ft [3.9m] N−S by 11.6m [3.5m]E−W The remains now consist of a stone-built oval structure (int. c. 4m N−S; c. 3.5m E−W; H 1.6m). The interior appears sunken relative to exterior ground level. The wall is upstanding on the W half, but only the internal wall face is visible; the external wall face is concealed by a sloping grass-covered bank. The wall survives to a height above current internal ground level of c. 1.4m at S−W and to 1.67m at N where the inward curve of the corbelling is still evident. The wall on the E arc is reduced to a low, grass-covered stone bank (Wth 1.6m; H 0.7m). This structure is probably the NE clochan, Thortigh East. It is a National Monument in state ownership (no. 99). Attached images: MA061-003001-_01.JPG Viewed from SE MA061-003001-_02.JPG Viewed from S MA061-003001-_03.JPG Viewed from E Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 19 November 2021