Description
The monument comprises the remains of a campsite dating from the mid to late 19th century, built by the early surveyors of the Ordnance Survey (OS) and situated in a sheltered gully some 250m ESE of the summit of Ben Lawers.
The campsite comprises the remains of an L-shaped windbreak, three stone-defined tent pitches and a sunken cooking place. A small, roofless building lies a little further to the E. The campsite was built to protect the tents and equipment of the early surveyors, while they were engaged on survey work for the First Edition OS maps, undertaking observations from the summit of the mountain. The Ordnance Survey personnel are likely to have been encamped on the summit of Ben Lawers for weeks at a time; locating the campsite in this gully must have afforded valuable shelter.
The L-shaped windbreak, which crosses the W end of the gully, is a roughly coursed, drystone wall, 1.1m wide and up to 1.7m high, measuring 11.5m from N to S. The external face is more neatly finished than the inner. A shallow, turf-stripped cutting extends eastwards from the foot of the internal face of the windbreak; this area may have been stripped to provide a clear stony pathway.
The three tent pitches and the cooking place are sited on either side of this cutting. The best preserved pitch is the southernmost of the three. Defined by a setting of individual stones, this pitch measures 4m from NW to SE by 2.3m internally. There is a gap denoting an entrance immediately adjacent to the SE corner on the S side of the structure.
The cooking place, located due S of this pitch, is a horse-shoe shaped hollow, some 3.5m by 2.9m in extent and up to 0.9m deep. The excavated material forms a low mound around the lip of the hollow, providing additional shelter for the fire.
A small subrectangular building is situated at the narrow SE end of the gully between two shattered outcrops. It measures 5.5m from N to S by 2.4m transversely, within a drystone rubble wall, 0.8m in thickness and up to 1m in height. There is an entrance in the W wall, offset towards the SW corner, and a possible fireplace in the N end.
The area to be scheduled is irregular in shape, measuring a maximum of 55m from E to W by 49m transversely, as shown in red on the attached map.