Archaeology Notes

Event ID 655910

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/655910

ND36NE 6 3699 6828.

(ND 3699 6828) Broch (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

Everley Broch was excavated by Sir Francis Tress Barry. It had an internal diameter of 29ft and a wall thickness of 15ft 6ins. Only 3 1/2ft of the wall remains and there was no sign of any chambers in 1910. The outbuildings were not excavated. As well as the usual quern stones etc, a small piece of 1st century Samian ware, and a fragment of a 1st century Roman amber glass vessel used as an amulet, were recovered during the excavation. These are now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS). A handled stone cup is also reported from the site.

RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910; A Young 1964.

The broch is now visible as a circular grass-covered bank 4.4m wide by 1.0m high, with traces of the inner wall face in the N, NW and S. The W segment of the broch has been almost completely destroyed, and only the amorphous remains of possible outworks could be seen on the S and W. A grass-covered mound, almost square on plan, in which traces of stonework can be seen, lies on the E side of the broch. The name could not be verified and the handled stone cup could not be located.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (R D) 9 September 1965.

Classification of Roman material.

A S Robertson 1970.

No change to the previous field report.

Visited by OS (J B) 12 July 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: National Museums of Scotland (NMS).

A Heald and A Jackson 2000

ND 3699 6828 During July and August 2002 work continued at Everley mound (NO36NE 6), a site previously investigated by Sir Francis Tress Barry at the end of the 19th century. The focus was on re-excavating a possible Atlantic roundhouse, a part of the external settlement and a Late Norse building. Re-excavation is part of a wider analysis of work undertaken by Barry on various Iron Age structures. The project also involves re-analysis of artefact collections and survey of upstanding remains.

Limited re-excavation revealed that the roundhouse had been heavily robbed since Barry's work, the wall surviving only to three courses in places. Excavations in the interior showed that Barry stopped at an arbitrary level; he did not reach primary deposits, although our work suggests that such remaining deposits do not survive to any great depth. Interior furnishings, such as a hearth and paving, were also found, together with untouched deposits containing pottery and stone objects. Excavations on other parts of the mound revealed a ?Late Norse building and a ?14th/15th-century rectilinear building.

Excavations and geophysical survey have allowed a better understanding of Barry's excavation methodologies and an assessment of the deposits he excavated. Everley was a large and long-lived site, with the potential to provide new insights into the character of the Iron Age, Late Norse and post-medieval periods.

Sponsors: NMS, University of Edinburgh - Dept of Archaeology, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Highland Council, Russell Trust, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Catherine MacKichan Bursary Trust.

A Heald and A Jackson 2002