Description

The monument comprises an extensive area of dry-stone structures, centred on the excavated remains of a broch. The monument was first scheduled in 1938 but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present rescheduling rectifies this situation.

The site was excavated in 1901 by means of at least three converging trenches, which were expanded over the walls and interior of the broch. The original mound measured some 60m by 40m and in one place the record shows that the work removed over 2.6m of material overlying the remains of structures. The excavators cleared out the interior of the broch and revealed the external faces of the broch wall. The trenching exposed parts of an extensive external settlement containing cellular or circular and rectangular structures arranged concentrically to the broch. In one instance it is likely that a cellular structure post-dates the broch. The broch wall survives to a maximum of 1.5m high and 4.3m wide, it measured 18m in external diameter and 9m in diameter internally. The broch was entered via a paved passage measuring 0.9m wide at the outer edge and 1.1m wide at the inner edge. The passage was equipped with a guard cell, a bar hole, a socket stone and inner and outer door jams; a drain was detected beneath the paving. The interior was partially paved and was, when excavated, partitioned by upright slabs. At least one of the slabs was keyed into the masonry of the broch's inner face. In the SW quadrant of the interior, two small steps gave access to a well measuring 0.6m square. An entrance in the S inner wall face gives access, via three steps, down to a small roofed cell. The excavations produced a large pottery assemblage, some iron and bronze metalwork, a varied collection of stone implements and a large and diverse assemblage of worked bone. The latter included handles, perforated components of composite tools, several awls, numerous pins, a whalebone cup and two bone dice, one of which came from an external structure. The excavators also noted large amounts of charcoal, peat ash, animal bone (including red deer), bird bone, human bone and shell. From the published account it seems likely that broch was destroyed, at least in part, by fire and that the site was subsequently re-used probably as a midden dump and possibly for human burial.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, with maximum dimensions of 60m N-S by 100m E-W, to include the broch and outbuildings extending to the edges of the field, as marked out in red on the accompanying map extract. The field is bounded by the loch shore to the S, the fence abutting the road to the N and E and the drain to the W. All above ground components of the fence are excluded from this scheduling.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
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Source: Historic Environment Scotland