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Archaeology Notes
Event ID 650141
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/650141
NC66SE 2 6973 6097
See also NC66SE 6 and NC66SE 9.
(NC 6973 6097) Broch (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1964)
The Sandy Dun (Horsburgh 1870) a broch high up on a cliff edge, consists of a tumbled mass of stones. The interior is filled with rubble and sand, but the inner face, a few feet in height with a 10 inch wide scarcement of thin slabs, is visible for the complete circuit; the outer face protrudes through the tumble on the south and NE sides, indicating an internal diameter of about 8.5m and a wall thickness of 4.0m. The entrance passage in the SW has collapsed and is covered by rubble. A small annexe 8.0m by 5.0m abuts the broch on the west, and further west is a wide natural ditch which serves as a defence.
Visited by OS (J L D) 26 April 1960
J Horsburgh 1870; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.
The broch, protected on three sides by steep rocky slopes and approached from the west across a low saddle, is generally as described by the previous authorities. In recent years a crude wall has been built around the top of the inner face. The position of the entrance is uncertain, but the most likely situation is in the west arc at the easiest means of approach, where one possible lintel slab is partially exposed in the tumble. This west side is further defended by the remains of an outer wall, which probably extended to connect with the natural slopes of the north-west and south-west of the broch, utilising in its course natural rock outcrops, but severe denudation and overburden of stone fallen from the broch renders its extent uncertain. A short stretch of an outer base course is evident towards the north end adjacent to a gap corresponding to the assumed broch entrance. Outside of this there are traces of a possible wall fringing the access way, but recent reconstruction confuses the nature of the remains. The name 'Sandy Dun' cannot be verified.
Revised at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (N K B) 27 September 1978.
