Field Visit
Date 30 July 2013
Event ID 994091
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/994091
NC 5911 1035 A detailed topographic survey was carried out, on 30 July 2013, of Altbreck Broch, for the purposes of conservation management planning. The broch is ruinous, but the remains of at least five intra-mural chambers are visible and, although the stairs are not visible beneath the rubble of the building's collapse, there is indirect evidence for the original presence of an upper storey, and architectural features imply that the structure originally had tower-like proportions. For the most part, the structure stands to less than 1.5m in height, although capping lintels are in situ in the guard cell to the N of the entrance passage, and a probable displaced jamb stone is visible in the entrance passage itself. The stairs were probably located in the gallery on the S side of the broch, which is entered through a narrow opening and contains a reverse corbelled chamber to the E. Two small enclosures have been constructed against the roundhouse wall to the W, and a linear field boundary runs from the rubble mound to the NE. A shooting butt of recent date overlies the broch wall on the N side.
Archive: RCAHMS
Funder: Forestry Commission Scotland
Graeme Cavers, Gemma Hudson, John Barber - AOC Archaeology Group,
2013
(Source: DES)