Skail

NC74NW 20 7135 4744.

At NC 7135 4744, occupying the summit of a steep-sided spur connected to the hill-slope to the west by a narrow saddle, are the fragmentary remains of a defensive work, completely turf-covered. It comprises a sub-oval, fairly level area about 20.0m E-W by 15.0m N-S, with a slight counterscarp 0.3m high on the west arc. Around the periphery protruding through the turf are several stones in sufficient numbers to suggest an encircling wall which has been almost completely obliterated; no wall faces are exposed and there is no tumble at the base of the knoll. (The work is situated within a walled pasture field and may have been robbed to build the wall and adjacent farm buildings). A gully extending into the summit area from the south-east may be a later mutilation. On the west side, across the saddle at the only practical point of access, is a ditch, 1.2m deep and 9.0m wide, which from its size and position has an obvious defensive function.

This ditch is similar to other examples associated with brochs in Strathnaver (See NC75SE 9 and NC75SE 11 NC74NW 3), and also to other, as yet unclassified defensive works (See NC65NE 1, NC64SE 30).

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (N K B) 25 January 1979.