The 3 year project of survey and recording in the glen came to an end in the Autumn of 2010 and with the publication of the book we can now draw a line under this part of the project.

But it is often the case that certain aspects of this kind of project invite further study and Strathconon is no exception in this respect. 

 

Three types of site have been identified as worthy of more investigation and we would like to move on to study them in more detail both by taking more details of the sites and by excavation. All the sites could be thought of as rather unexciting and insignificant but all were crucial to the existence of the people of Strathconon at one time or another :-

 

1. Storage pits - almost certainly for storing potatoes through the winter. In the early half of the 19th century the population relied heavily on the potato for its subsistence as did a great majority of the people of the Highlands. 83 pits were recorded at 6 sites. We have already completed an exploratory excavation and plan to return for further work in June 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Illicit stills - 49 still bothies and other associated features, both in the woodland of the lower glen and in the mountainous areas of the upper glen. The plan here would be to select 20 or so sites and study them in more detail comparing and contrasting their features and excavating 3 or 4 of them.

 

3. Shielings - over 300 were recorded throughout the glen.