Ruined township on Isle of Skye discovered under 1977 tree plantation

The ruins of a township dating from the 17th or 18th centuries have been revealed on the Isle of Skye.

Remains of houses, byres, barns and corn-drying kilns were discovered during forestry operations in Glen Brittle.

Archaeologists from AOC Archaeology had been surveying the site before the trees were harvested on behalf of Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS).

The site had been masked by windblown trees from a commercial Sitka spruce plantation which was planted in 1977.

Experts discovered the township, which was referred to as Brunell on an early 19th century map, surveyed by John Thomson in 1832. 

Records from around the final years of the township show it was home to more than 2,000 people, who farmed sheep and cattle.

The township was deserted by the time of the first Ordnance Survey, who depict only two unroofed buildings and a field on their map from 1881.

Some 28 buildings were recorded by the archaeological survey, clustered together with fields and stock enclosures to form a small clachan.