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Green Hill, Reiss
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Green Hill, Reiss
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Norwall Broch
Canmore ID 9241
Site Number ND35SW 10
NGR ND 3266 5445
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9241
- Council Highland
- Parish Wick
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND35SW 10 3266 5445.
(ND 3266 5445) Green Hill (NAT) Broch (NR)
OS 6" map, (1968)
'Norwall Broch', South Kilmster, the ruins of which are partially exposed, is in a partly excavated grassy mound and the plan by John Nicolson, Lybster, was made then. The wall thickness is 13 1/2ft, and the interior diameter is 26ft. Outside the broch, and to the N of the entrance passage the remains of considerable outbuildings have been uncovered. Finds from the broch were donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) by C S T Calder in 1947-8.
RCAHMS 1911; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1950.
The broch is situated on a very gentle NE-facing slope and has been cut off from the higher ground to the SE by a broad ditch, now under the plough, but still about 1.0m deep. The broch, which as a maximum height of 2.6m on the NW side, is now entirely grassed over and no trace of any wall is evident except for a few exposed stones on the S side of the entrance passage, which is in the W side.
The court is 9.2m in diameter and has a maximum depth of 1.1m below the present top of the broch.
No traces of the outbuildings mentioned by the RCAHMS are evident; 7.0m N of the entrance, in a hollowm is an upright stone slab 0.7m high by 0.4m broad and 0.2m thick, possibly a door jamb.
REvised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (E G C) 22 April 1963.
No change to the previous field report except that the slab noted is part of the outbuildings, of which nothing further can be seen on the ground.
Visited by OS (J M) 27 July 1982.
Publication Account (2007)
ND35 6 NORWALL ('Green Hill 3') ND/3266 5445
This probable broch in Wick, Caith-ness, stands on a very gentle, north-east- facing slope and has been cut off from the higher ground to the south-east by a wide ditch which is still about 1.0m deep even though under the plough [1]. The broch was partly excavated in 1903 or soon after by Sir Francis Tress Barry and by 1910 it was a grassy mound with some structural features visible; now it is lower and ploughed out [4 and plan]. The original plan was made by Mr J. Nicolson of Lybster at the time of the excavation; there is nothing to be seen at the site now [4].
Description
The entrance was on the west, 4.12m (13.5ft) long, and an outward extension had been added to it at some stage, evidently running through some outbuild-ings. One door-check face with a thin stone slab was found in this, 1.07m (3.5ft) outwards from the broch. About half the inner wallface was exposed during the excavation, and the internal diameter was found to be 7.93m (26ft).
The broch door-frame is about 2.7m (9ft) in from the outside but the passage was badly ruined; the design of the checks is not mentioned. The published plan shows a doorway to a mural stair, rising to the right, at about 9 o'clock and traces of outbuildings in front of the entrance. No such structural features are now visible [1], and even in 1910 hardly anything remained of the outer wallface [2]. There is no record of any finds.
Dimensions: the internal diameter is 27ft. (8.24m) and the wall, at the entrance, some 13ft 6in (4.12m); if it is this thickness throughout the external diameter would be 16.17m (53ft) and the wall proportion 50.9%.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 35 SW 10: 2. RCAHMS 1911b, 148-9, no. 508, fig. 36: 3. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 82 (1947-48), 317 (finds): 4. Swanson (ms) 1985, 611-14 and plan.
E W MacKie 2007
