Skinnet
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Mound (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Skinnet
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Mound (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 8544
Site Number ND16SW 3
NGR ND 1257 6136
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/8544
- Council Highland
- Parish Halkirk
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND16SW 3 1257 6136.
(ND 1257 6136) Brough (NR)
OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)
The broch at Skinnet has had the E side removed so that a segment, representing less than one half of the original remains of the structure overgrown with grass, is all that exists.
RCAHMS 1911; J Anderson 1873
Classified as a broch.
A Graham 1949
The remains of this feature now consist of a grass-covered mound of earth and stones, 23.0m long, 14.0m wide and 2.0m high. It is impossible without excavation to classify this as a broch.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 16 February 1965
(ND 1257 6136) Broch (NR) (remains of)
OS 6" map, (1970)
This mound is as described by the previous field investigator. An arc of stone spread to 4.0m tops the mound. A measurement across this arc gives an approximate internal diameter of 15.0m; too great for a broch. The nature of the mound cannot be classified from field inspection.
Visited by OS (J B) 6 October 1981
'Broch'. Dimensions: 21 x 13m. Grass-covered oval mound 3m high destroyed by quarrying on E and W sides.
R J Mercer, NMRS MS/828/19, 1995.
Publication Account (2007)
ND16 13 SKINNET ND/1257 6136
Possible broch in Halkirk, Caithness, consisting of a grass-grown mound part of which (on the east side) has been removed; there are no traces of any building, but it has been suggested that the arc of rubble visible on top indicates a diameter of 15.0m, "too great for a broch" [1]. There are fairly clear signs of a ditch on the east and south-east [4]. The mound had been partially destroyed early in the 19th century [3].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 16 SW 3: 2. RCAHMS 1911b, 35, no. 116: 3. Anderson 1890, 185: 4. Swanson (ms) 1985, 637.
E W MacKie 2007
