Archaeology Notes

Event ID 652227

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/652227

NC91NE 27 9943 1891.

(NC 9943 1891) Broch (NR)

OS 6" map, 1964.

Situated on the summit of a hillock is a broch measuring 33' NE-SW by 32' transversely, within a wall 7' average height and 12'6" thick, widening to 15'6" at the entrance which is 3' wide at the exterior, and 4'10" at the interior It is checked for a door, but no entrance to a guard chamber is visible. Opposite the entrance there is a passage giving access to the stairway and a ground floor mural chamber.

The commanding position of the broch is strengthened by outworks, probably the most impressive in Sutherland. The base of the hillock is encircled by a ditch 9' deep below an outer rampart 14' broad. A short outer ditch runs parallel with the inner one for about 20' at the N end. A small oval enclosure is contained in the outer rampart to the W side of the broch. The course of the ditch is broken on the N side by the approach which passes between its open ends.

A quartzite pebble from the broch is in Dunrobin Museum Acc No: 1869.5 (Information from TS of Catalogue of Dunrobin Museum, by A S Henshall).

J M Joass 1865; J Nicol 1910; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909; R W Feachem 1963; A Young 1964; E W MacKie 1975.

This broch has remained unaltered since the visit by the RCAHMS.

Re-surveyed at 1:10560

Visited by OS (W D J) 20 May 1960 and (N K B) 6 October 1976.