Strath Carnaig
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Strath Carnaig
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) W Of Mound Junction; Brae
Canmore ID 14797
Site Number NH79NW 11
NGR NH 7050 9903
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/14797
- Council Highland
- Parish Dornoch
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NH79NW 11 7050 9903.
(NH 7050 9903) Broch (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)
The ruins of a broch with a circular enclosure abutting on its ENE side.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.
A broch, surviving as a hollowed mound, c.2.0m high, on a rise above a flood-plain. The inner face, 1.2m maximum height, and the outer face, 0.4m high, are visible for most of the periphery, giving an internal diameter of c.8.3m within a wall c.4.3m thick in the ENE widening to c.5.7m in the WSW. According to OS (W D J) in 1963 there was an entrance, 1.5m wide in the WSW, and although this cannot be verified as it is obscured by tumble, the increased thickness of the wall and a hollow in the rim of the mound suggest that it was in this arc. There is a gap, 0.7m wide, in the inner face of the broch on the N side, probably the entrance to a mural gallery, the inner face of which is discernible for a short distance in the S. The central court is obscured by debris. Abutting on the E arc of the broch is a circular stone-walled enclosure of uncertain date and purpose. It measures 16.0m in diameter between the centres of a wall spread to c.2.5m wide, which is overlaid by a modern wall. No entrance is apparent. There are traces of a smaller enclosure on the NW side of the broch. They may both be associated with depopulated buildings in the vicinity.
Some 8.0m from the broch on the slopes to the S and W is a discontinuous line of stones, possible part of a revetment.
Visited by OS (W D J) 17 June 1963 and (N K B) 10 November 1969.
Field Visit (12 August 1909)
107. Broch, Brae.
On the left bank of the Allt Lochan Ianan Bhuidhe, ¼ m. above its junction with the Carnaig River, are the ruins of a broch. The situation is near the base of the hill, on the top of a bank whence the ground slopes sharply to the flat land by the river. The broch now occupies the upper end of a large walled enclosure. It is a complete ruin, and has been greatly pillaged. The interior diameter is 27'. The greatest height of walling visible in the interior is about 5', and externally the wall is reduced to the foundation. The position of the entrance is uncertain, but it appears to have been from the WSW. The thickness of the wall at that point is 19', while on the ENE. it is 14'. A large circular enclosure abuts on the broch towards the ENE.
OS 6-inch map, Sutherland, Sheet civ.
RCAHMS 1911, visited (AOC) 12th August 1909.
Publication Account (2007)
NH79 1 BRAE ('Strath Carnaig') NH/7050 9903 (visited in 1989)
Probable broch in Dornoch, Sutherland, in the form of a crater-like mound of rubble on a rise above a flood plain; there is turf growing in the interior. The structure is badly ruined although both wallfaces are visible throughout most of the circuit. These indicate an internal diameter of about 8.3m with the wall thickness varying from 4.3m to c. 5.7m.
An entrance was reported on the west-south-west in 1963 but later visitors, including the author, could not see it [1]. A gap 0.7m wide in the inner face on the north side was thought to be the entrance to an intramural gallery and by 1989 a fragment of this gallery had become exposed. A small section of scarcement can also be seen now.
Dimensions: internal diameter c. 8.3m, wall thickness 4.3m thick in the east-north-east, and c. 5.7m in the west-south-west. The overall diameter should therefore be about 18.3m (60.0 ft) along that diameter but is perhaps less elsewhere. In 1989 an accurate survey of the inner wallface was undertaken and showed it to have been set out close to a true circle with a radius of 4.05 +/-- 0.11m (a diameter of 8.10 m, or 26.56 ft) .
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NH 79 NW 11: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 38, no. 107.
E W MacKie 2007
