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West Gersa, Gearsay Cairn

Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)

Site Name West Gersa, Gearsay Cairn

Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)

Canmore ID 8732

Site Number ND25NE 2

NGR ND 2726 5819

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/8732

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

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Watten
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Caithness
  • Former County Caithness

Archaeology Notes

ND25NE 2 2726 5819

(ND 2726 5819) Gearsay Cairn (NR)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

Broch, Gearsay: A grass-covered mound, probably a broch, is surmounted by a small modern cairn. Its extent is indefinite, its greatest height 6ft, and the E side has been considerably robbed.

RCAHMS 1911

Gearsay Cairn, a grass-covered mound measuring 20.0m N-S by 18.0m transversely, and 1.6m high, is situated on a low knoll. There are no indications that it was a broch. The slopes are littered with debris from the cairn which surmounted the mound.

Revised at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (R D L) 23 April 1963

Gearsay Cairn is generally as described by the previous field investigator. Robbing and cultivation have obscured the line between the artificial mound and the natural knoll on which it is sited. The mound is too indistinct for certain classification but it is probably the remains of a broch.

Visited by OS (J B) 18 March 1982

Broch, 'Gearsay Cairn'. Dimensions: 57 x 47m. Subcircular mound 2.5m high truncated on the E side by ploughing. It possesses a 'mound on the mound' feature, the central mound measuring 18 x 15m.

R J Mercer, NMRS MS/828/19, 1995.

Activities

Publication Account (2007)

ND25 8 GEARSAY CAIRN ND/2726 5819

Possible broch in Watten, Caithness, consisting of a grassy mound about 20-18m broad and 1.6m high; there are no signs of walling.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 25 NE 2: 2. RCAHMS 1911b, 131, no. 472.

E W MacKie 2007

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