Down A Minor road signposted "Rhue"
branches left off the A.835 about 2.5
miles north of Ullapool and after about
a quarter of a mile, bends sharply to
the right. Most of the settlement, which
covers four acres or more, lies on the
moor above the bend.
Approximately fifty yards north of the
bend is a circle of stones about forty
feet in diameter, partly covered by heather,
which are the remains of a round house.
Its entrance was at the southeast where
there is a gap in the circle, and the
hearth would have been near the centre
where there is now a small mound. Ten
yards to the west, there are parts of
what appears to be a smaller circle some
18 feet in diameter, which may have been
a storage hut. Some 70 yards to the north
another hut circle, about 25ft. in diameter,
can be seen in the heather. To the west
and east of the circles are a number of
smaller heather-covered mounds, one of
which is partially exposed in the bank
on the right hand side of the road as
you approach the bend, where it can be
seen to consist of a heap of boulders
and smaller stones.
The circle of stones making up the wall
of the round house would originally have
been about 3ft, high. The outer ends of
the rafters of a conical roof would have
rested on the top surface of the wall.
The roof would probably have been further
supported be vertical posts inside the
house and thatched with heather and turf
or both.
The climate at the time of the settlement
would have been drier than today and little
or no peat would yet have been formed.
The mounds are in fact field clearance
heaps, indicating that the area over which
they extend was cultivated by the inhabitants,
probably to grow barley and oats. They
would also have engaged in stock rearing,
hunting and fishing. The Strathan burn
was conveniently close for supplies of
fresh water.
The very few round house settlements
in the north of Scotland which have been
excavated produced radio carbon dates
for their occupation falling between 1500
BC and 100 AD, i.e. during the Late Bronze
and the Iron Ages. With no other evidence
available, we can only suppose that Rhue
was occupied for some time during this
period. The two round houses may not have
been in use simultaneously and the settlement
could have lasted for several generations.
It was small, probably housing just one
extended family group of 20 to 30 including
children.
In trying to visualise their environment,
we should forget the present hillside
covered with heather and peat, and think
of grassland with patches of trees and
scrub, a drier and sunnier climate in
which the sown crops would flourish, livestock
grazing on the hill above, and an abundant
harvest of fish from the loch below.