Carn Mor, Birchfield

Broch (probable), Birchfield.

This monument, noted as a cairn with the name ‘Cairn Mor’ on the 6-inch OS map, stands on a slope at the edge of the cultivated fields, above the haughs of the Oykell, at about 175 ft above sea-level. The site is about 150 yds N of the highway, and a quarter of a mile W of the entrance to the avenue of Birchfield. It consists of a mound of stones measuring 66 ft from N to S by 80 ft from E to W and showing much evidence of disturbance; in particular there is a shallow depression in the summit, and clear signs of rushed stones extending under the turf well beyond the limits of the exposed debris as measured. Within the E sector of the depression a concave stretch of masonry appears, one or two courses in height and measuring 9 ft 6 in along the chord; measurements of the curvature of this arc suggest that it is part of circle only 16 ft in diameter, but too much importance should not be attached to this point owing to the dilapidated state of the masonry and the large error that might have been introduced through the slipping out of place of even one or two of the stones on which the calculation was based. No remains of structure survive apart from this stretch of facing, but there are large numbers of straight-sided slabs – evidently building-stones – scattered among the debris. It can be said with confidence that this monument is not a chambered cairn, and there is every likelihood that it is a broch.

Visited by RCAHMS (AG) 10 September 1943.

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

Square NH49

NH49 1 CARN MOR 2 ('Birchfield')

NH/4903 9926

This probable broch in Kincardine, Sutherland, survives as a mound of tumbled stone and was once considered to be a cairn [1]. The outer wallface, showing to a maximum height of three courses, can be seen on the south side for a length of 12.0 m; traces of the inner face in the same arc suggest that the wall is 4.3m thick here [1]. No other details are now visible among the rubble.

However in his comments on Bishop Pococke's tour of the area in 1760, Kemp says that in 1887 the inside of the “Birchfield broch” was "still standing, 5 or 6 feet in height and 33 feet in diameter."; he also says that "The outside diameter was about 65 feet." [3, 113, f.n. 4], though no source is given for these statements. If this was the second site mentioned by Boece early in the 16th century as standing near the Dornoch Firth ("There are preserved, in a certain valley in Ross, two edifices of antiquity, monuments of a round shape, made in the form of bells." (See NH68 1), It might be thought that reference was being made to the two brochs in Glen Beag, near Glenelg (NG81 2 and NG81 3); though now in western Inverness-shire the border with Ross-shire is only a few miles to the north of the glen. However Boece’s reference to the town of Tain makes it clear that they were on the Dornoch Firth (see Dun Alisaig)) then Carn Mor 2 may also have been a high tower just under five hundred years ago. However it is not clearly marked as 'Dun' on Pont's map (see the entry for Dun Alisaig – NH68 1) [4] even though the place names of the nearby farms are recognisable there. The second bell-like tower may in fact have been Leachonich (NH68 2) below.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NH 49 NE 3: 2. Graham 1947, 96: 3. Kemp (ed.) 1887: 4. Stone 1991: 5. Watson 1904, 19.

E W MacKie 2007