Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016758
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016758
The broch stands on the hillside overlooking the junction of Loch Alsh, Loch Duich and Loch Long, a view now partially obscured by forestry plantations. It is built of substantial stones giving a particularly solid appearance, and much of the outside wall stands clear of debris.
The interior was cleared out in 1899, so many structural features are visible despite its ruined state. The floor inside is the natural surface of a rocky knoll and is very irregular, dropping some 1.50m from southwest to northeast. The entrance is at the lowest point, and has a fine triangular lintel, one set of door checks, a bar-hole to the right and a guard chamber, now blocked, on the left. Further round the wall on the inside a small doorway opens into a round cell with high corbelled roof. Next to this, a larger doorway leads to a short flight of stairs, rising to a level passage, now partly blocked by tumble. From this passage a doorway opens onto the scarcement ledge, while beyond it the stairs once continued upwards. The high doorway is an interesting feature, probably once common in many brochs, but not often preserved, though there is another at Rhiroy (no. 86). It led out onto a wooden floor supported by the scarcement ledge, here less than a metre above the ground. On the opposite side of the broch yet another door opened into two long cells running right and left within the wall, both now blocked by tumble, but partly visible amid the rubble of the walls. Such long cells may have been used, like souterrains, as cool stores.
On the way back, look for bait holes in the rocks. These are east of the Totaig slipway, at the first corner in the road, on rocks under a tree above the shore. They were used for crag fishing, when shellfish such as limpets were pounded up in the holes and thrown into the water to attract fish into frame nets.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
