Description

The monument consists of the remains of a broch, an Iron Age defensive construction, with outer banks and a quarry-ditch. The broch has been set on the W side of a small valley, about 10m from the edge of a low but steep escarpment. Of the broch itself, only traces of the lower wall-courses survive, indicating a diameter of just under 20m. There are signs of a wall-base cell on the NE part of the circuit.

Outside the broch on the N to NNE is a low bank, the remains of a rampart, which ends at the edge of the escarpment. A second bank, separated from the first by a broad, flat-bottomed ditch, lies outside the first, and continues from the N through W to SW. This outer rampart, of mixed earth and rubble, is now the most noticeable feature on the site, rising over 2m from the bottom of the internal quarry-ditch at the N, where it is most pronounced, and falling away in height to the SW.

The edge of the escarpment, to the E of the broch and ramparts, has been crowned by a stone-faced rampart, much of which has slipped over the edge. The area to be scheduled is triangular, bounded on the E by a modern surface drain at the foot of the escarpment. It has sides of 85m (NE), 80m (S) and 80m (NW), to include the remains of the broch and its outer ditch and ramparts, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as much for the outer defences as for the remains of the broch, which is almost removed. The remains of the broch and the ramparts have the potential, through excavation and analysis, to provide important information about the construction, and destruction, of brochs, while the ditch may contain deposits which could throw light upon the domestic economy of the broch's builders and inhabitants, and thus on Iron Age society in general.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HU 28 SW 2.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland