Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 586794
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/586794
NC65 4 LOCH LOYAL
NC/622510
Cairn, once thought to be a possible broch, in Tongue, Sutherland, on the spit of land which divides Loch Craggie from Loch Loyal. Horsburgh says there were the remains of a Pictish tower there [3, 277] but the Commission diagnosed it as a round cairn [2]. The kerb of boulders doubtless caused the confusion. This mistake illustrates why an early diagnosis of a site as a “Pictish tower” does not necessarily mean that the author concerned saw a tall tower, since demolished; he may only have noted the remains of a ring of massive stones and made the assumption from that.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 65 SW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 186, no. 538: 3. Horsburgh 1867.
E W MacKie 2007
