Portgower
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Portgower
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Midgarty
Canmore ID 7495
Site Number ND01SW 5
NGR ND 0008 1279
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/7495
- Council Highland
- Parish Loth
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
ND01SW 5 0008 1279.
ND 002 130. A Pictish Tower stood to the east of Midgarty, a settlement shown on Roy's map.
W Roy 1747-55; New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845.
ND 0008 1279. On a coastal spur with a steep slope on the seaward side, is a low, turf covered, roughly circular mound circa 21.5m in diameter. Its surface is featureless and has been mutilated by probable quarrying. The site is asserted locally (information from J O F Mackay, Portgower, Helmsdale) to be that of a broch but this can only be proved by excavation.
Visited by OS (J B) 12 April 1976.
Publication Account (2007)
ND01 5 MIDGARTY ('Portgower') ND/0008 1279
Site of a broch in Loth, Sutherland, once described as a "Pictish tower"; it stood on a coastal spur with a steep slope on the seaward side, but there is nothing there now but a low turf-covered mound [1].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 01 SW 5: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 164, no.
E W MacKie 2007