Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 586947
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/586947
NC91 5 GYLABLE BURN (‘Gailable’) NC/9487 1823
Probable broch in Kildonan, Suther-land, standing in a fairly open position on a low spur on the east side of the burn and about 0.25 miles from the river Helmsdale. There are the remains of a pre-Clearance township close by [3]. The structure is a badly ruined mound of stones 2m high and only the basal courses of the inner and outer faces can be intermittently traced; some of the blocks in the latter are very large. The entrance is on the east with the north (right) side of the passage partly preserved [4]. Just south (clockwise) of this is what appears to be the inner face of a gallery or cell in the wall. There are no outer defences.
Dimensions: the wallfaces suggest an internal diameter of 9.5m (31ft) and a wall thickness of 4.9m (16ft) [1]; Swanson gives the former as 7.8m east-west and 8.3mat right angles [4].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 91 NW 9: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 106, no. 311: 3. A Haggarty in DES 1983: 4. Swanson (ms) 1985, 787
E W MacKie 2007