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Depopulated settlement, enclosed within a head dyke and comprising remains of longhouses, kilns, and enclosures. Nine buildings are depicted on the OS 1st edition map on which it is annotated ‘Dubh-bhruach (in ruins)’. . RCAHMS site visit in 1993 also recorded a further four buildings and a hut beyond the head dyke. Most of the features within the head dyke are situated on a terrace above the river. Seven of the nine buildings measure between 9.5m and 11.8m long and between 2.5m and 3.3m wide, the coursed rubble walls up to 1.2m thick. The other two buildings are smaller, 5.4m long and 3m wide. All nine have rounded corners, and are of single compartment although one has a substantial outshot. A kiln at NO02908874 has a bowl 2.5m in diameter and a barn on the north side, the kiln at NO02748873) has a bowl of the same diameter and flue 1.6m long and may have been for lime burning. A hut at NO02688862 may have been an illicit still. The head dyke encloses an area of circa 12ha, and there are remains of rig over the western half of this area. Field clearance heaps on the 6ha of haughland also enclosed by the dyke suggests this area has also been cultivated. The settlement is depicted on Farquharson’s 1703 map on which it is named ‘Dubrech’. The settlement was garrisoned after the 1745 uprising. It is shown on Roy's map as a settlement named ‘Dubrach’. Walkover survey was carried out by Cameron Archaeology in June/July 2015 to assess damage on the Mar Lodge estate resulting from flooding in the wake of storm Bertha. Walkover survey by Highland Archaeology Services along the river Dee in 2023 (NO08NW0055) included part of this site alongside the river. This recorded a previously known stretch of tumbled drystone wall at the foot of the slope between NO 02709 88734 and NO 02737 88736, measuring 1.3 m wide and up to 0.7 m high.
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