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Remains of shieling huts, sheepfolds, pens and other structures associated with at least three phases of the occupation and use of the Mar Lodge estate: mixed farming, intensive sheep management and intensive deer management. There are several groups of shieling huts, buildings and pens (including a substantial paddock running along both sides of the Bynack Burn) associated with sheep management, a shooting lodge with associated stone and timber structures at Bynack (NO08NW0030) and a gamekeeper's house probably formed from an earlier building (Red House - NO08NW0037), associated with deer management. RCAHMS field survey recorded six groups of shieling huts scattered along the valley bottom and the sides of the east bank of the Bynack Burn from near Bynack Lodge in the south to the confluence of the Bynack and Geldie Burns in the north. The same area is partially enclosed by a dyke, which also runs down the west side of the Bynack Burn to a sheepfold on the south of the Geldie Burn. At NO 0023 8573 is a group of six shieling huts which range from 4 m to 7.6 m in length, and 1.55 m to 2.4 m in breadth, over rubble faced walls 0.7-1.0 m thick standing up to 0.4 m. Adjoining the east side of one hut is a yard or enclosure, and another has a drystone pen built onto its south end. A boundary dyke abuts at least two of the huts. At NO 0036 8611 are three turf or turf and stone shieling huts immediately north of the confluence with the Allt an t'Seillich. They range from 7.3m to 9.1m in length and from 4.1m to 5.3m in breadth over walls spread to between 1.2m and 1.7m in thickness and standing to about 0.3 m in height. The largest of the huts, on a low knoll, is subdivided into two compartments, with an outshot attached to the south end and a yard or small enclosure attached to the east side. At NO 0048 8611 are four stone-walled shieling-huts and a pen on the first terrace to the east of the confluence of the Bynack Burn and the Allt an t'Seilich. They are between 4.9 m and 8.3 m in length, and 2.2 m and 3.3 m in breadth, with rubble-faced walls 0.7 m to 1.1 m thick and standing up to 0.5 m in height, with an entrance in the side. There is a small turf-walled yard attached to the west side of one of the largest of the shielings, and there is a midden heap outside the entrance. At NO 00521 86431 are four turf or turf-and-stone shieling-huts and a pen on the flood-plain of the Bynack Burn. They range from 6.6 m to 9.3 m in length by 4 m to 5.8 m in breadth over walls spread to between 1.1 m and 1.8m in thickness and up to 0.5m in height. Each has an entrance in one side. One of the shielings has been robbed of its stone, leaving a trench where the walls had been, and there is what may be a midden heap outside the entrance. At NO 0063 8669 five stone-walled shieling-huts are situated on the terrace on the east of the confluence of the Bynack and the Geldie Burns. Four of them range from 5.8 m to 8.3 m in length and 2 m to 2.4 m in breadth within rubble-faced walls 0.8 m to 0.9 m in thickness and standing to as much as 0.3 m in height. Each has an entrance in one side. The fifth hut is much smaller measuring 2.1 m in length by 1.15 m transversely within walls 0.7 m in thickness with an entrance on the southwest. At NO0085 8665 are six stone-walled shieling-huts, two sheepfolds and two pens situated on the west-facing hillslope to the east of the confluence of the Bynack and Geldie Burns. They range from 2.65 m to 7.2 m in length by between 1.65 m and 3 m in breadth within rubble-faced walls 0.8 m to 1 m in thickness and standing up to 0.9 m in height. Each has an entrance in one side. The two largest huts are subdivided into two compartments. Another hut at the bottom of the slope has a window high in the wall on the uphill side. The two pens are both about 3 m square and are of similar build to the huts. The sheepfolds are built of drystone rubble and have additional compartments added to one side, of which one surrounds a platform, possibly due to its use as a small garden plot. At NO0042 8673 survey recorded a boundary dyke, a sheepfold, a bothy and what may be a sheep dip in the bottom of the U-shaped valley through which the Bynack Burn runs. The boundary dyke encloses the valley bottom on either side of the Bynack Burn, extending from the confluence with the Geldie Burn in the north nearly as far as Bynack Lodge in the south, an area of about 1.1 km by between 150 m and 250 m in breadth (22 ha). The dyke varies from a stone dyke to a ditch cut in the peat. It is incomplete, particularly on the east side. It post-dates the huts at the south end and an extension of it at the north end runs west towards the remains of a sheepfold and its related structures. The sheepfold includes a grass-covered area on the west which was enclosed by a timber fence. On the east there are the partially robbed remains of a bothy, two rectilinear cobbled stances to the west and south of it, and a possible sheep dip. Alongside this on the east there are six parallel turf-covered plinths, each one 1.4 m in length by 0.75 m in breadth and 0.25 m in height, although their function is not known. Another pair of them is situated at NO 0043 8673 adjacent to the dyke that leads up to the sheepfold from the east. The bothy which is situated on the edge of the river terrace, measures 10.5 m by 5.8 m over faced-rubble walls 0.6 m in thickness and standing to as much as 0.6 m in height on the north-northeast, but robbed to its foundations elsewhere. Another possible shieling hut was recorded at NO00458686 (NO08NW0023). Few of these features appear on the OS 1st/2nd edition maps. Walkover survey by Highland Archaeology Services along the river Dee in 2023 (NO08NW0055) encompassed the parts of this site alongside the Geldie and Bynack Burns and recorded a number of the features: W9 (NO 00641 86703) comprised footings of a small structure, 3 m by 3 m. W10 (NO 00630 86693) footings of a sub-rectangular drystone structure, 4 m by 7.5 m. W11 (NO 00392 86103) footings of a rectangular structure 3 m by 7 m and up to 0.3 m high with no visible stone. W19 (NO 00292 85924), remains of a kiln barn 12 m long and 4 m wide, constructed of rounded local stones, with a kiln in the northeast end, and a possible entrance on the southeast. W16 (NO 00150 85804 – NO 00163 85853), patchy remains of a drystone wall, 0.6 m wide and up to 0.5 m high. W18 (NO 00125 85681) a concrete bridge abutment with wooden bridge still attached (but washed/pulled aside). W17 (NO 99936 85540 - NO 99930 85579 - NO
00066 85590), a drystone enclosure wall, badly tumbled in places, 0.6 m wide and up to 1.2 m high. It forms an enclosure with Bynack Lodge (NO08NW0030).
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Historic Environment Records (HER)