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Teroy

Broch (Iron Age)

Site Name Teroy

Classification Broch (Iron Age)

Alternative Name(s) Craigcaffie

Canmore ID 60815

Site Number NX06SE 7

NGR NX 09923 64108

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/60815

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Inch
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Wigtown
  • Former County Wigtownshire

Archaeology Notes

NX06SE 7 09923 64108.

(NX 0992 6410) Teroy Fort (NR)

OS 6" map (1909)

This broch, known as Teroy Fort, stands on a rocky prominence about 120 feet long by 70 feet broad protected on the ENE end by a trench some 26 ft broad from crest to crest, 9 - 10 feet across the bottom: 10 feet deep from the top of the scarp and 3-4 feet below the counterscarp. The broch has been excavated and reduced almost to the foundations but had walls about 12ft 8ins in thickness with the interior court of 29ft diameter. The entrance was in the ENE, or higher end of the hillock, 16 feet back from the top of the scarp of the ditch, with the guard chamber on the west of the entrance. The greatest height of wall visible was 2ft 4ins but more than one third of the periphery wall has been entirely removed.

Finds: two small pieces dark red pottery; lump of iron 1lb 12oz in weight; upper stone of a rotary quern, a disc of coarse pottery perforated in in centre; small particles of burnt bone; part of a cockle shell; a small ox bone and particles of iron in extreme corrosion. RCAHMS 1912

This structure may be a dun or galleried dun rather than a broch.

R W Feachem 1956

'Teroy' Fort is generally as described by RCAHMS. The slopes of the knoll on which it is situated are artificially scarped and on the north side a terrace 2.0 to 3.0m wide runs parallel with the base of these slopes. The structure itself is broch-like but if it is a broch there is little or no evidence of the outer limit or external face of its wall. The odd stone protrudes through the turf about 4.0 to 4.5m. distant from the internal wall face as though forming a concentric circle, but this is conjectural.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (EGC) 5 March 1963

Teroy - Almost certainly a Broch.

R W Feachem 1963

Excavation report by Curle.

A O Curle 1912

The remains of this broch stand within an outwork on the summit of a knoll overlooking Craigcaffie Glen from the S. The broch has been severely robbed and the wall has been reduced to a mound of rubble no more than 0.6m high; the inner fall, however, is visible around the E half of the interior and two outer facing stones survive on the SSW, when the wall is 4m in thickness. The interior is 9m in diameter and there is a mural chamber on the NE. Excavations carried out in 1911 suggested that the chamber opened off the N side of the main entrance passage, but only the coursed masonry on the S side of the passage can now be seen running back into the body of the wall. The sides of the chamber comprise a basal course of orthostats carried upwards by three courses of laid stones to a maximum height of 0.6m, and there is an unusual recess formed of orthostats at its N end.

The outwork that encircles the ban of the knoll is best preserved on the NE where it comprises a ditch 5m broad and 0.5m deep with an external bank 4m thick and 0.6m high; elsewhere it has been reduced to little more than a terrace but the sides of the knoll have also been modified to create a steep scarp about 3.2m in height. Access to the summit was probably from the SW where there is a gap in the outwork.

RCAHMS 1987, visited (SH) 6 June 1986.

Activities

Excavation (21 July 1911 - 22 July 1911)

Broch, Teroy, Craigcaffie.

To the N. of Lochinch the level ground which stretches inland from the Bay of Luce rises rapidly at the Braes of Balker to a high table-land reaching northward into Ayrshire. A deep glen, down which flows the Kirkclachie Burn, cuts far back into the Braes on the W., necessitating a considerable detour to reach the higher ground on the opposite side by the road from Craigcaffie. Here on the brow of the hill at the edge of the Braes, and overlooking the deepest part of this ravine, is a round, rocky prominence, measuring about 120' in length by 70' in breadth, on the N. and highest extremity of which are the foundations of a broch (fig. 22), heretofore known as Teroy Fort, and recently excavated. The position is singularly commanding, holding in view a great extent of country from the Bay of Luce on the E. to the distant Rhinns of Galloway on the W., with nearer at hand the head of Loch Ryan. At the ENE. end the rock is protected at its base by a deep trench crossing the ridge from which it rises, measuring some 26' in breadth from crest to crest, 9' to 10' across the bottom, 10' in depth from the top of the scarp, and 3' to 4' below the counterscarp. Along the W. flank the trench gives place to a terrace extending for from 12' to 15' out from the base of the rock, while the sides of the eminence are steeply scarped all round with an average height of from 6' to 8'. Access has been gained to the top from the S. and lower extremity. The broch itself has been reduced almost to the foundations. It was entered from the ENE. or higher end of the hillock, 16' back from the top of the scarp of the ditch. The passage at the entrance was 2' 4" wide, and was oblique in direction for the first 2', so as to allow for an angle of rock which projected out from the face of the wall for 8" on the left, thereafter proceeding straight to the interior. At 4' 6" inwards on the right was the entrance to a guard chamber, which had passed through the wall for a distance of about 3', but the portion of wall on the left which separated the chamber from the main passage had been removed down to the foundation . The chamber extended inwards, following the curve of the broch wall for a distance of 10'. At 5' from its entrance a large block, with building at the back of it, projected outwards from the WSW. wall for a distance of 3' 6", thus dividing the chamber in to two compartments, the outer one measuring 5' in breadth, and the inner one 3'. At the entrance to the guard chamber the main passage had a width of 2', and where it opened on the courtyard 2' 3". The extreme length was 12' 6", and height of wall about 2' 6". There were no traces of door checks, but at the inner extremity a sill some 6" broad projected slightly above the floor level. The interior court measured 29' in diameter. The natural surface was very uneven with outcropping rock, but there were indications of levelling up and of a floor of flags having been laid over the top. The greatest height of wall visible in the interior was 2' 4", but for one-third of the periphery the wall had been almost entirely removed; the position of the stair was consequently unobtainable. The building was very good, the spaces between the larger stones being very neatly tilled with small flat fragments. The base of the wall within the guard chamber was formed of large flat slabs set on edge so as to form a smooth face to the interior. The excavation did not reveal evidence of long occupation. There were recovered from the interior two very small pieces of dark red pottery, a lump of iron weighing 1 lb. 12 oz., and the upper stone of a rotary quern. In the main passage was found half of a disc of very coarse pottery, 4" in diameter, 13/16" in thickness, with a perforation 7/8” in diameter in the centre. A number of waterworn pebbles were unearthed, but none of them showed any signs of use. Besides some small particles of burnt bone, a fragment of a cockle shell, and a small bone of an ox, no other food refuse was seen. On the rock on the floor of the outer compartment of the guard chamber there lay some particles of iron in a condition of extreme corrosion.

O.S.M., WIGTOWN, xii. NW. (‘Teroy Fort’).

Visited 21st and 22nd July 1911.

Field Visit (10 July 1953)

?Broch, Teroy (Inventory No. 28).

There is nothing to add to the Inventory description of this structure. The wall is 13 ft. in thickness, and of broch-like construction, but the absence of cells, other than a guard-chamber, and stairs makes it a doubtful broch at the best. It could conceivably be a stone-walled homestead like the Ayrshire group. The site is much as Curle left it and it would be worth clearing out the rest of the interior.

099641 xii NW.

10 July 1953.

Measured Survey (6 June 1986)

RCAHMS surveyed Teroy broch on 6 June 1986 with plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:500.

Publication Account (2007)

NX06 1 TEROY (‘Craigcaffie’)

NX/0992 6410

This probable broch in Inch stands on a rocky prominence about 36.6m (120 ft) long by 21.4m (70 ft) broad, protected on the east-north-east end by a trench some 7.9m (26 ft) broad from crest to crest, 2.7m - 3.1m (9 - 10 ft) across the bottom, 3.1m (10 ft) deep from the top of the scarp and 0.9 - 1.2m (3 - 4 ft) below the counterscarp. The slopes of the knoll on which it is situated are artificially scarped [1]. The broch was excavated by A O Curle in 1911 and at that time was already reduced almost to its foundations. Curle also compiled the field reports for the RCAHMS Inventory of Wigtown (1912).

Description

The wall is about 3.86m (12 ft 8 in) thick and forms a central court 8.81m (29 ft) in diameter. The entrance was in the east-north-east, on the higher end of the hillock, 4.88m (16 ft) back from the top of the scarp of the ditch; the inner end was photographed [2, fig. 4]. There is a guard chamber on the right (west) which is unusual in having the base of its wall formed of large slabs set on edge [2, fig. 3]. It is also unusual in having a smaller annexe at its inner end. The greatest height of wall visible in 1912 was 0.71m (2 ft 4 in) but more than one third of it has been entirely removed.

The occupation layers found were thin – entirely absent in places – and Curle inferred that Teroy had not been inhabited for long.

Finds: Curle [2] describes these which include – 2 small pieces of dark red pottery, 1 lump of iron 1 lb 12 oz in weight, 1 upper stone of a rotary quern, 1 disc of coarse pottery perforated in the centre and 10cm (4 in) in diameter (rather large for a spindle whorl), some small particles of burnt bone, part of a cockle shell, a small ox bone, and particles of extremely corroded iron.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NX 06 SE 7: 2. Curle 1912 (plan and two photo-graphs): 3. RCAHMS 1912, 20-22, no. 28: 4. Feachem 1963: 5. RCAHMS 1987, 24, no. 158.

E W MacKie 2007

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