Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 586949
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/586949
NC91 7 KILPHEDIR ('Kilphader Tower')
NC/9943 1891
This probable broch in Kildonan stands high up on the moor overlooking the valley of the river Helmsdale, with a clear view up and down the strath (visited 12/7/63). It stands on a natural knoll which has been entirely surrounded at its base by a formidable ditch 2.75m (9ft) deep within an earthen rampart 4.27m (14ft) wide. There is a short outer ditch, parallel with the inner and about 6.10m (20ft) long, at the north end, facing the river where the approach is over flat ground. On the south-west a causeway crosses the main surrounding ditch and Swanson describes a ramp on the north-west which she thinks was the main approach to the broch[8].
The broch itself is almost completely hidden under a vast pile of stones which look as though they have never been disturbed. Several features are visible however. The entrance is on the north-west (facing the ramp) with three lintels still in position: it is 4.73m (15.5ft) long, 92cm (3ft) wide at the outer end, 1.48m (4ft 10in) at the inner and with 15cm (6in)-deep door-checks at a distance 3.05m (10ft) in; these are presumably built rebates but were not noted by the author in 1963, though Swanson saw the one on the right [8, 780]. No signs of a guard cell are visible.
At 12 o'clock can be seen the doorway from the interior to an intra-mural gallery which probably contains the stair: this was in fact seen here, together with a stair-foot guard cell, in 1909, but there were no signs of the steps in 1963 even though the gallery – 76-92cm (2.5 - 3ft) wide – is exposed down to 61cm (2ft) below the present wallhead. A short stretch of the inner face of a mural gallery is visible at 10 o'clock but no signs of a scarcement ledge are apparent on the interior wallface. Three lintels are in position over the gallery in the arc from 2-5 o'clock. A quartzite pebble from the broch was in the collection of the Dunrobin Castle Museum [1].
This is another site which seems to have been somewhat better preserved in the recent past. Stuart visited it in about 1866 and stated that "The present example has walls of about fifteen feet in thickness, containing chambers which enter from the central open space." He also noted that "A flight of stairs, formed of flags in the centre of the wall, is yet entire." [7, 290]. The drawing from the early 1860s shows this better preservation well.
Dimensions: the broch's internal diameter is 10.07m (33ft) from north-east to south-west (on the 6-12 o'clock axis) and 9.76m (32ft) transversely. Swanson gives it as 9.6m north-south [8]. The wall thickness at the entrance is 4.27m (14ft) (4.73m, or 15.5ft, according to the Commission) and the total diameter here is 18.15m (59.5ft): the wall proportion would thus be 45.5%.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 91 NE 27: 2. Joass 1864, 246: 3. RCAHMS 1911a, 104-05, no. 307, fig. 35 and pl. III: 4. Young 1962, 186: 5. Feachem 1963, 173: 6. MacKie 1975, 218: 7. Stuart 1868: 8. Swanson (ms) 1985, 779-82: 9. Close-Brooks 1995, 152-3, no. 84: 10. Armit 2003, 36, 80: 11. Dockrill 2002, 160.
E W MacKie 2007
