Archaeology Notes

Event ID 655145

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/655145

ND36NE 2 3940 6844

(ND 3944 6845) Castle (NR) (Rems of)

OS 6" map, Caithness, 1st ed., (1873)

(ND 3940 6844) Broch (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

The remains of a 2nd to 3rd century broch, situated on the neck of a promontory and isolated on the landward side by a ditch 30ft wide. Secondary structures lie N and S as well as inside the broch, which was excavated by Sir Francis Tress Barry between 1890 and 1901 and by MacKie in 1972.

It has measured 22ft in diameter within a wall 14ft thick with the checked entrance in the SSE, facing seaward. A scarcement runs round the N arc of the interior, and the exterior of the same arc has fallen over the cliff, together with part of the settlement. In 1910 the exterior wall-face stood 2ft high, the inner 5ft high, and in the S arc of the interior, 16ft W of the main entrance, was a stair entrance although only two steps of the stair and part of the chamber at its foot remained. Three tank-like structures, one of them filled with ashes, and the other two covered with slabs, were set into the floor of the central court.

South of the broch entrance on the outside is an irregular, well-like cavity which held water in 1910. It is about 10ft deep and 10ft by 7ft across the top with a drain leading into it from the S. One of the outbuildings to the N partly overlay the broch wall and produced an elk- horn, which is among the finds from Tress Barry's excavation donated to the NMAS in 1908. Also in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) are sherds of 2nd to 3rd century (MacKie 1974) Hebridean everted rimware with applied fillet, from the site (Accession no: GA 911). (See also ND36NE 18.)

J Anderson 1901; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1908; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910; R W Feachem 1963; A Young 1964; E W MacKie 1972; E W MacKie 1974.

The broch is generally as described. The tanks in the central court are now uncovered and contain water. The 'well-like' chamber S of the entrance is partially faced with stone slabs and is possibly the remains of a souterrain which seems to have been entered from the W by a passage which has fallen in. There is no water in it now. No surveyable remains of the outbuildings could be found. A modern wall has been built near the cliff edge SE of the broch.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (R D) 9 September 1965.

The broch and secondary structures are as described by the previous authorities. The interior details of the broch are obscured by thick grass. Whether the cavity to the S of the entrance is a sump or the end of a souterrain cannot be satisfactorily determined from ground inspection. It is similar to the underground chambers associated with the broch at Oust (ND06NE 7). A mound to the E of the broch is probably excavation debris as is the 'modern wall' noted by the previous field investigation.

Visited by OS (J B) 10 May 1982.

ND 3 6 (area) As part of a wider study of Iron Age Caithness, the broch settlements at Everley (ND 3699 6828), Keiss Harbour (ND 3531 6108), Keiss Road (ND 3488 6151), Whitegate (ND 3541 6120), Skirza (ND 3940 6844), and Hillhead (ND 3762 5140) were recorded by total station survey in June 2000. Aspects of the artefactual assemblage uncovered during 19th-century excavations by Laing and Tress Barry were also studied.

Sponsor: NMS.

A Heald and A Jackson 2000