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North Calder
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name North Calder
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Canmore ID 8532
Site Number ND16SW 10
NGR ND 1035 6160
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/8532
- Council Highland
- Parish Halkirk
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND16SW 10 1035 6160.
(ND 1035 6160) Mound (NR)
OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)
On the summit of a grassy hillock stood a broch. The hillock seems to some extent to be artificial; it has a diameter overall of about 146ft and is some 10 to 12ft high. No part of the structure is visible, but the portion of the mound which seems to have contained the tower measures some 70ft in diameter.
RCAHMS 1911
Classified as a broch.
A Graham 1949
The grass-covered mound, which measures 46.0m in diameter and 4.0m in height appears to be the remains of a broch although there is no definite proof of this, apart from its overall size and a slight depression in the top, 11.0m in diameter. In the N, a considerable section of the mound has been removed.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 16 February 1965
(ND 1035 6160) Broch (NR) (remains of)
OS 6" map, (1970)
There seems little doubt that this is a broch displaying the 'mound-on-mound' effect common to Caithness, although the profile has been smoothed, the mound spread and then truncated by ploughing. The broch-mound is about 19.0m in diameter and 1.0m high with an undulating depression, 0.3m deep, in the centre. No wall faces are exposed, and pieces of friable slab are visible protruding through the mound here and there. The larger mound is as desribed by the previous field investigator.
Visited by OS (N K B) 15 February 1982
'Broch'. Dimensions: 40 x 35m. Oval grass-covered mound 3.5m high, with no evidence of coursing. Orientation NE-SW.
R J Mercer, NMRS MS/828/19, 1995.
Publication Account (2007)
ND16 9 NORTH CALDER ND/1035 6160
Possible broch in Halkirk, Caith-ness, standing on the summit of a grassy hillock about 46.0m in diameter and 4.0m high which may be partly artificial. There are no wallfaces visible but the site looks like a classic example of a broch mound on top of a flat platform [1], although this feature was not seen by Swanson, possibly because of dense vegetation [3].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 16 SW 10: 2. RCAHMS 1911b, 34, no. 110: 3. Swanson (ms) 1985, 635.
E W MacKie 2007
