Ballone, Mybster
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Ballone, Mybster
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Canmore ID 8342
Site Number ND15SE 8
NGR ND 1619 5280
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/8342
- Council Highland
- Parish Halkirk
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
Field Visit (16 June 1910)
About ½ mile W of Mybster Inn, on the S side of the road to Westerdale, is a large grass-covered mound in the corner of a field, concealing the remains of a broch. From E to W it measures 135ft [41m] in diameter, and from N to S 123ft [37m]. Its elevation is about 12ft [3.6m]. The mound has been considerably broken into and much of it removed from the NE side.
Visited by RCAHMS (AOC), 16 June 1910
OS 6” map (1907) 'Brough'
Field Visit (10 November 1965)
ND15SE 8 1619 5280
This large mound, approximately 39.0m in diameter, almost certainly contains the remains of a broch. The NE side of the mound has been quarried away and considerably reduced by the construction of a road. At the bottom of the N slopes is a course of stones, possibly the remains of a broch wall. On the S slopes, further sections of possible walling are discernible.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (N K B), 10 November 1965.
Field Visit (10 April 1982)
ND15SE 8 1619 5280
(ND 1619 5280) Broch (NR) (remains of)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1976).
A quarried broch-mound generally as described by the previous field investigator. The 'mound-on-mound' effect common to Caithness brochs with outworks in discernible on the W side. The walling noted by the previous OS field surveyor, in the S slopes and at the base of the mound in the N cannot be identified, but there are traces of the wall of an outwork at the foot of the mound in the W.
Visited by OS (J M), 10 April 1982.
Note (1995)
'Broch', Ballone, Mybster. Subcircular grass-covered mound with a mound on mound formation visible on th SW side.
R J Mercer, NMRS MS/828/19, 1995.
Publication Account (2007)
ND15 17 MYBSTER
ND/1619 5280
A possible broch in Halkirk, Caith-ness, in the form of a large, grass-covered mound about 41.2m (135 ft) east-west, 37.5m (123ft) transversely and 3.66m (12ft) high; there is a suggestion that it may be the remains of a broch standing on a platform. The north-east side has been much reduced by quarrying for a road. The 'mound on mound' effect so common in Caithness brochs is apparent on the west side [1].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 15 SE 8: 2. RCAHMS 1911b, 31, no. 96: 3. Swanson (ms) 1985, 663-64 and plan
E W MacKie 2007
