Archaeology Notes

Event ID 653598

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/653598

ND06NW 18 0131 6964.

(A: ND 0131 6964; B: ND 0122 6958) Green Tullochs (NR) (Broughs) (NR) (For 'B' - a cairn - see ND06NW 23.)

OS 6"map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)

A: The ruins of this broch appear as a penannular ring of slaty fragments some 12ft high, with the interior comparatively clear. The ring has been undermined by erosion on the NE destroying the entrance. At several places the outer and inner faces of the wall are visible under the debris, giving a wall thickness of 14 to 15ft and an interior diameter of 43ft. The tower appears to have been encircled, 2ft 7ins from its base (sic), by a wall 4ft 9ins thick. The remains of a further encircling bank, apparently surmounted by a wall, with a ditch 18ft wide and now 4ft deep with a low counterscarp bank, can be seen some 22ft to seaward on the NE side of the broch wall.

RCAHMS 1911.

During the partial destruction of the broch about 1815, a human skeleton was found, laid close to the wall of the tower, covered by a flagstone, loosely set on edge in the ground and leaning against the wall.

J Anderson 1873; J Miller 1865.

The broch remains as a grass-covered circular enclosure 2.7m maximum height, strewn with large numbers of rubble stones. It has been destroyed in the N by coastal erosion revealing the outer wall face. It is partially encircled by two grass-covered banks and a medial ditch 0.5m deep. The inner bank, maximum height 1.4m is complete except in the N, where it has been eroded. The outer bank, 1.0m high, is less prominent and has disappeared completely in the N and SW segments. In the S and SE these outer ramparts are cut by three entrances, apparently original.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 4 November 1964.

(ND 0131 6964) Broch (NR)

OS 6"map, (1969)

This broch with outworks is generally as described by the previous authorities. A depression in the broch wall in the W may represent the entrance. The innermost wall described by the RCAHMS could not be identified. Traces of the medial ditch or counterscarp bank are visible continuously around the perimeter except in the N where erosion has taken place. The suggested entrances probably originated during the robbing of the broch.

Revised at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (J B) 10 September 1981.

A broch, 13m internal diameter, 24 by 20m externally, and 3m high, surrounded at a distance of 6m by a bank 3.5m thick; with a wall, 2m thick, running 4m outside this.

R J Mercer 1981.