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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 673182

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/673182

NL69NW 3 6285 9707.

(NL 62859707) Dun A'Chaolais (NR).

OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Dun a' Chaolais, a broch, built on a rocky knoll. Its outer face, almost entirely broken down, is still 3' high to S.W. Inside better preserved, and on N.W. 10' high with traces of scarcement. Internal diameter about 29'6". Probable entrance slightly S. of E., and, within walls,cells at both sides of this. Ground level gallery in W. half of building, where traces of upper gallery also survive. To the west of the broch an outer courtyard is enclosed by a stone wall (max. height 3', and some 30' from the main building) which curves round to meet the wall of the broch on the north. There are numerous stone foundations outside the dun (sic), several of them evidently of late date.

RCAHMS 1928.

The remains of the broch are generally as described by RCAHMS. It has an external diameter of about 16.0m and an internal diameter of about 8.0m. The outer and inner wall faces are visible round most of the circumference, having a max. height of 1.1m, and 0.9m respectively. The entrance in the NE is about 1.5m wide with traces of a small chamber on either side. A gallery about 1.0m wide is traceable round most of the broch wall. Attached to the NW side of the broch is a small courtyard enclosed by a slight turf-covered stone wall 0.3m high. Masses of fallen stones lie within the broch and around its base.

Immediately to the south and SE are the footings of at least two buildings and four shielings evidently of a later date. The larger building is sub-oval and is formed by a turf-covered stone wall 1.5m wide and 0.6m high. The outlines of a similar building of this group lie in the attached courtyard.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (W D J) 22 May 1965.

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