Scanned image of plan of broch. Annotated 'Ballacharn. Diagram showing extent of the Excavations. Blue - cleared out to the foundation. Yellow - debris. Green - unbroken surface. Red - secondary build ...

Description Scanned image of plan of broch. Annotated 'Ballacharn. Diagram showing extent of the Excavations. Blue - cleared out to the foundation. Yellow - debris. Green - unbroken surface. Red - secondary building. 1905'. Annotated verso: 'Ballacharn, Acharole, 1905'.

Date 1905

Collection Papers of John Nicolson, antiquarian, Keiss, Caithness, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 876611

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Plan of Bail a' Chairn broch, Caithness, Highland Bail a' Chairn broch, also known as 'Acharole' or 'Ballacharn', was excavated by Sir Francis Tress Barry (1825-1907) in 1904. Barry was the proprietor of the Keiss estate and excavated numerous broch sites between 1890 and 1904. This watercolour by John Nicolson (1843-1934) was drawn in 1905 and shows a plan of the broch. Nicolson's use of colour to record the depth of excavations (blue), debris (yellow), untouched areas (green) and secondary buildings (red) provides a unique representation of the extent of Barry's investigations. He also uses solid and dashed lines to record various internal features which may be an indication of different phases of building and occupation within the broch. There are no published plans of this broch which depict such crucial information. Nicolson was born at Stemster, John O' Groats, in 1843 and lived at Nybster for most of his life. He took an active interest in the archaeology of Caithness and assisted Barry on many of his excavations. Nicolson was also a skilled artist and drew many of the artefacts and structures that Barry uncovered. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap