Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 586780
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/586780
NC51 1 ALLT BREAC ('Alltbreac’)
NC/5911 1035
This probable ground-galleried broch stands on the summit of a gradual rise on the north side of a shallow glen running down to the flat land around Loch Shin, which is a mile away (visited 11/7/63). The structure has been badly quarried and ruined and the walls are down to a height of from 0.9 to l.2m (3 or 4ft). Some of the stones in the outer face are very large, over 90cm (3ft) long and up to 60cm (2ft) high [2].
The entrance is on the north-north-east and there are traces of a guard cell on the right with its doorway l.93m (6ft 4in) from the exterior (the door-checks have vanished). The doorway is 51cm (1ft 8in) wide and 1.22m (4ft) deep, and the cell behind is 3.05m (10ft) long (Commission's measurements [2]). The Commission also saw a guard cell on the left with a doorway 61cm (2ft) wide and 76cm (2.5ft) long; this led to a badly ruined cell 2.13m (7ft) long and 81cm (2ft 8in) wide, but this can no longer be seen.
There are clear traces of a mural gallery, or of several cells, in the wall and these must be at ground level because of the low wallhead. At present they look like the fragmentary remains of a single gallery but the Commission describes more than one built end to the various visible sections, which suggests that there may be a series of sub-divided sections of gallery. In 1963 the feature was visible at about 10 o'clock (with a square-built end facing back towards the entrance), again from 11 to 1 o'clock (with a rounded end at the former point) and finally at 3 o'clock (where a left end was reported in 1909 [2]). This broch thus seems to be an example of the ground-galleried form, or of something very close to it; presumably one of the subdivisions is a stair-foot guard cell; no traces of the stair have been reported and it must still be buried.
Dimensions:
The external diameters from 6-12 and from 9-3 o'clock seem to be l8.61m (61ft) and l5.86m (52ft) respectively, which would make the structure markedly oval. The wall thicknesses along the first diameter are 4.8m and 4.35m (13.5 and 14.5ft) and the first wall thickness on the second diameter is also 4.35m (14.5ft). The oval shape was confirmed by Mercer's survey but he gives the diameters as 20m and 25m [3].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 51 SE 2: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 136-8, no. 395, and fig. 56: 3. Mercer 1980, 125, site DAL 256.
E W MacKie 2007
