Mybster: Archaeology between Stone and Moor

If you are looking for a hotel in Mybster, your choice of location may also be shaped by the historical features that define the area: a fragmentary stone cist, an Iron Age broch, and longhouses and the remains of a farmstead. There is also extensive moorland and peatland. Together, these features show different sides of the area—from a small stone structure to larger floor plans and the surrounding landscape.

Archaeology on different scales

The surviving stone cist is fragmentary and measures 2 × 1 metres. At its centre is an area enclosed by stones; outside it runs a stone ring 0.8 metres wide. Mr Sutherland of Mybster Inn discovered it while ploughing in 1867. The find connects a specific moment in local history with an archaeological feature.

Grey Stone and broch

Grey Stone, formerly called “Clach Ghlaise”, was split by blasting a few years before 1872. It appears to be natural; at the same time, tradition holds that it is one of the standing stones marking a burial site. Whether this interpretation is correct remains uncertain.

Ballone in Mybster is an Iron Age broch protected as Scheduled Monument 521. Mybster therefore brings together a single stone cist, a broch and other building structures as distinct archaeological features.

Longhouses and farmstead

A separate longhouse was approximately 22.25 metres long and 5.9 metres wide; it was divided into two areas. Another longhouse measured 11.1 × 5.6 metres and had no internal division. The first was therefore about twice as long as the second and also had a different internal layout. Longhouse MHG19792 had additions on its north, south and west sides. At the western end of longhouse MHG19790 is a semicircular structure measuring 2.5 metres in diameter, possibly a kiln.

Mybster farmstead includes a longhouse measuring 27 × 5 metres, aligned from northeast to southwest. The longhouse mill is a rectangular building measuring 21 × 6 metres. A wheel pit for a mill was also located inside the Mybster Farm building; the pit has since been filled in. The western area of Mybster Farm contained a fireplace and was converted into a byre by installing cattle stalls. A 17 × 17-metre enclosure at the farmstead was formed from upright stone slabs. The dimensions and building features distinguish the individual elements without combining them into a single building.

Landscape and road connections

Extensive moorland and peatland shape the landscape around Mybster. The road connection is also a practical point of reference for finding your way: near Mybster, the Northern Pilgrims' Way includes the stretch where the B870 joins the A9. On Braid 1, the section from Mybster to Spittal follows the busy A9 and requires caution. If you include this section in your travel plans, check current road conditions in advance.

In the wider regional historical context, the former market places of Spittal, Sordale and Backlass were a short distance north and east of the Mybster junction. Their location adds a view of the historic landscape around the junction to the picture of Mybster.

Discover more destinations: Fort Augustus, Applecross, Rogart, Staffin, Teangue, Altandhu, Dalwhinnie, Muir Of Ord.

For the broader travel overview: Highland.