Dun Cor, Durcha

52. Broch, Doir’ a' Chatha. Close beside the farmhouse of Durcha,

¾ m. NE. of Achurigill, are the remains of a broch. It is now a structureless heap of ruins, from which most of the large stones have been removed. It has apparently been of great size, and the ruin measures 106' across, but, as no wall faces are visible, the actual dimensions of the structure are not obtainable.

See Pococke, p. 115.

OS 6-inch map: Sutherland Sheet cii.

RCAHMS 1911, visited (AOC) 30th June 1909.

Excavation and topographic survey of the site, Dun Cor, prior to refurbishment of the dwelling house at Durcha, Lairg in 1992. A programme of further exploratory excavations on the site in 1996.

A detailed topographic survey of the mound, Dun Cor, Durcha was conducted by CFA in 1992.

Archaeological excavation was carried out in May 1992, in advance of construction of an extension to the existing farmhouse. The presence of a broch named Dun Cor was referred to in the 18th century, and a substantial mound behind the modern farmhouse was thought to relate to this structure.

Surface traces indicate that the mound is multi-phase and capped by substantial post-medieval occupation. A structure provisionally identified as a galleried roundhouse occupied the eastern side of the mound, outwith the area of excavation. This was restricted to a relatively small area of 9m by 6m on the southern edge of the mound, together with a slit trench of 3.5m by 0.8m projectng westwards from the NW corner of the main trench. There were no clear surface traces of structures within the excavated area.

Excavation revealed a denuded length of drystone walling which projected westwards into the trench for c2m. To the W of this the walling had been removed. Two distinct construction phases appeared to be present. The primary external face was of boulders backed by a disturbed and partially voided core of cobbles, from which a sherd of undecorated pottery was recovered. No internal face survived within the trench. These deposits were overlain by an irregular mound of midden material, possibly of comparatively recent origin. This walling had been refaced with a carefully constructed boulder and coursed drystone face backed by earth and rubble.

The primary wall-face was respected by a compact cobbled surface up to 3.5m wide. Its underlying ground surface had been slightly scarped to create a level surface. A secondary, roughly paved pathway lay above the cobbled surface, and ran beside the secondary wall-face. This pathway curved gently across the trench from E to WNW, and may indicate the former course of the removed walling in the western half of the trench.

A continuous buried ground surface was sealed beneath these archaeological features, and lay directly above a coarse sandy till subsoil. Other excavated deposits are more recent in origin, and relate to post-medieval activity. A near-level yard was created by stone-dumping directly above the denuded walling.

The excavated drystone walling is not inconsistent with that recorded in atlantic roundhouses of the first millennium BC. Any such interpretation is, however, determined more by the historically-recorded presence of a broch than by diagnostic characteristics of the excavated remains. The putative galleried roundhouse to the E of the excavated area may be the structure to which historical records refer, and certain of the excavated remains may represent features associated with it.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

CFA 1992.

NC 5017 0239 Further to work conducted in 1992 (CFA 1992), excavations were conducted in October 1996 in order to determine the nature and extent of the principal structures present within the large grassed mound believed to contain the remains of a broch (NMRS NC 50 SW 2). Excavations in 1992 had revealed the remains of a substantial prehistoric wall, although it could not be conclusively interpreted as part of the broch, and the surface morphology of the mound had indicated that the wall was probably part of an ancillary structure.

Four trenches were opened in 1996, with the aim of removing modern material and collapsed remains to expose the preserved prehistoric levels, but without excavating them. Trench 1 was designed to establish whether the E end of the mound contained a broch or related structure, as had been suspected from surface traces. The majority of the deposits identified in this trench were post-medieval in date and related to the dumping of angular stone, possibly to form a yard surface. Beneath this material was a bed of substantial rounded boulders, which may relate to prehistoric activity. These boulders did not appear to form part of a wall, and may represent terracing to the E of the roundhouse.

The remaining three trenches revealed the position of a broch-related structure. It was found that the structure lay immediately N of Durcha dwelling house, and that the postulated post-medieval structure atop the mound did not exist. Trench 2 was of sufficient size to provide a complete plan view through the surviving remains of the broch wall on its NE circuit. Trenches 3 and 4 were opened to detect the position of the inner wall face, and thus to determine the diameter and extent of the structure. It proved to have an internal diameter of c 9m and walls c 5m thick. The prehistoric walling excavated in 1992 appears to have formed the heavily denuded remains of the S circuit of the outer wall face. There is little doubt that the identified structure is of a type traditionally classified as a broch.

Where exposed in Trench 2, the wall possessed inner and outer faces of large boulders, well fitted and with small chocking stones filling the gaps between them. Here the wall was of solid construction, containing discontinuous rough boulder internal faces, presumably devices used to ensure the stability of the construction, between which lay dumps of cobbles and boulders. A secondary face abutted the outside of the exterior face, against which a midden deposit had been subsequently banked. It is estimated that the inner wall face is preserved up to at least 2m high on the N circuit, whereas the outer face is nowhere likely to survive greater than 1m high.

A Data Structure Report is in preparation.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

A Dunwell 1996.

NC50 1 DURCHA (‘Doir a' Chatha', 'Dun Cor')

NC/5017 0239

Probable broch in Creich, Sutherland, which until recently was a featureless heap of ruins [7, Illus. 2]. It was partially excavated in 1992 and 1996 – as a rescue project on behalf of Historic Scotland – and proved to be the remains of a probable broch [6]. The structure was once much better preserved than it is now. in 1760 the internal diameter was measured by Bishop Pococke as 9.15m (30ft) and the wall as 1.83m (6ft) thick [3]. Kemp [4, 48], referring to Pococke's 1760 visit, says that –

"… the older inhabitants of the district remember when many feet of it was (sic) standing, and when hundreds of loads of stone were taken to build the dyke which now encloses the Invernauld Wood" [7, 281].

Description

The foundations and plan of the wall were explored by means of four trenches which hardly impinged at all on the area of the central court [7, Illus. 3]. Thus no real attempt was made to explore the enclosed living area, even when a fragment of it was exposed [7, 287]. This persistent failure to explore of the interior of undisturbed brochs is one of the more remarkable aspects of archaeology in the north in the last decades of the 20th century. The failure to finish the work at Beirgh (NB13 3), the refusal by Historic Scotland to allow the interior either of Old Scatness (HU31 4) or Dun Vulan (NF72 1) to be explored down to the primary floor level or to allow limited excavation inside Gurness broch to establish the nature of its primary floor, all represent several missed opportunities to unravel the original purpose of brochs which future generations of archaeologists will surely find hard to understand. These events are even more incomprehensible in the light of Historic Scotland’s published policy that the under-standing of the original form of brochs is an urgent research task (Barclay 1990). However in fairness to HS it must be added that the colossal expense incurred during the total rescue excavation of Howe in Orkney (HY21 6) between 1978 and 1982 doubtless played a part in some of these decisions. Yet the complete exploration of Durcha would surely not have broken the bank.

The wall still stood up to 2.1m high in places and no formal intra-mural spaces were located in the areas excavated; however there were indications that the rubble core of the wall had been laid in distinct dumps, presumably to increase stability.

Find

Only one Iron Age artifact was found, the segment of a shale bracelet with the usual D-shaped cross section [7, Illus. 12]. Originally the ring was about 110mm in diameter externally and 95mm internally.

Dimensions: the estimated diameter of the building as revealed by the new excavations is 18.25m and the thickness of the wall is 4.5 m. The wall proportion would thus be about 49.3%.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 50 SW 2: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 20, no. 52: 3. Kemp 1887, 115: 4. Kemp 1888: 5. Graham 1948, 94: 6. Hamilton 1968, 175: 7. Dunwell 1999.

E W MacKie 2007