24/08/2026
Hello and welcome back to Monument Monday, our monument today is MPK237- aka Bunrannoch.
Directly to the south of Kinloch Rannoch, Bunrannoch is generally known to be a medieval township, destroyed in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. However, archaeological research suggests Bunrannoch's story is more complicated- and potentially far older- than was previously assumed.
The site of Bunrannoch evidently had a long history. In addition to prehistoric hut circles there were three "homestead" dwellings. Despite the rather modest name these homesteads would have been important centres of power, with massive drystone walls, 4m thick forming a circle 30 metres in diameter. Not much is known about these structures, but they appear to be particularly concentrated in northwest Perthshire- the Black Spout just outside Pitlochry is another example, previously excavated by the Trust. In addition to these prehistoric and late Iron Age structures were several sub-rectangular structures, assumed to be medieval criel houses, burnt down as part of the repression following the Jacobite Rising in 1745.
However, there was a problem with this chronology- there was no sign of a settlement at Bunrannoch on any historical mapping. Even on the plan of the village at Kinloch made in 1757 (as part of the forfeiture of the Struan estates), which goes so far as to record individual boat houses and fish ponds does not record even any ruins at the site now known as Bunrannoch. Indeed, the name "Bunrannoch" seems to be used for a general area uninhabited land- the area between Kinloch and Tummel Bridge.
A potential solution for this mystery was found after investigations by the University of Glasgow as part of the Rannoch Archaeological Project. Excavations of the settlement did find evidence of burning- and even reuse of the structures following this. Radiocarbon dating of this burnt material returned two dates- of 660-900 CE and 680-940 CE. So, it seems there was a village at Bunrannoch, and it was burnt down; not after 1745, but something like a thousand years earlier!
Is it just a coincidence that the story got attached to an early medieval site that was burnt down? Or was the story of the burning village preserved for over a thousand years, passed down from generation to generation, to be a little more muddled with each retelling, and mixed up with later events? We can never know for sure, but it's more likely than you might think.
Full details of the Rannoch Archaeological Project can be found in an article by Gavin MacGregor in vol. 14 of the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, "Legends, Traditions or Coincidences: Remembrance of Historic Settlement in the Central Highlands of Scotland"
Image below is Bunrannoch as it appears today, credit- HES
