EHG4840 - Excavation - Carn Liath Broch, Golspie

The broch of Carn Liath sits atop a grassed sandy knoll rising from the raised beach close by the sea some 3.5km N of Golspie, Sutherland. The upstanding remains of this solid-based broch and its numerous outworks are readily visible both from the main A9 road and railway line, and doubtless because of this ease of access and degree of preservation, the site and its associated finds have long been the subjects of antiquarian interest. Following the late JXWP Corcoran's rescue work in 1972 within the broch, recent excavations at this state care monument, prior to masonry consolidationg, examined outworks to the NE of the broch and re-opened its entrance passage and guard cell. Despite thorough Victorian disturbance, a tentative chronology was established for the site. The Bronze Age was represented by a Beaker fragment and later putative cist with Food Vessel and shale washer necklace. Settlement, shown by post-holes, hearth and a severely truncated structure of slot construction, predated the building of the broch and attendant ring-wall, while later Iron Age activity included the division into outbuildings of the area between the broch and outer wall by the addition of cross-walls. Previously unrecorded circuit walls and midden were identified downslope of the main outworks, and the side produced evidence of shale and iron working. <1>