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MHG10945 - Broch, Leadoch

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

NC80NE 16 8550 0520.
(NC 8550 0520) Broch (NR) OS 6"map, (1964)

Leadoch, NC80NE0016

Brochs are round, tower-like houses, their monumental size intended to display the wealth and status of the agricultural communities who lived in them. They were occupied in the later Iron Age and occur frequently in north and west of Scotland. (41)
Although the remains of this broch are not as spectacular as those of Carrol, just to the west, Leadoch gives a vivid impression of the prominent position in which many brochs are situated. It lies on a prominent knoll above Loch Brora, surrounded by a number of hut circles and their fields.
Much of the stonework may have gone into the houses of the deserted nineteenth century township at the foot of the knoll. Nonetheless, traces of the outer wall face and the entrance passage can be seen, as can chambers within the thickness of the double skinned wall.
(18.2m)
Armit, I., 1997. Celtic Scotland. Edinburgh: Batsford.
Gourlay, R., 1996. Sutherland. An Archaeological Guide. Edinburgh: Birlinn.
RCAHMS. 1911. Sutherland. Edinburgh: HMSO.
Informaiton from SCRAN Project, March, 2000

A broch overgrown with vegetation situated on a knoll. The overall diameter is 58 feet and height of the mound formed by the ruins is 5 feet. No inner wall face is visible. The entrance appears to be in the E, with signs of a chamber on either side and a further mural chamber on the W side of the broch.
An enclosure, 15 feet wide, extends around one quarter of the broch's periphery from NE to N.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

A broch generally as described by RCAHMS and surveyed at 1:10,560 by OS (E G C).
The outer wall face is visible intermittently indicating a precise diameter of 18.2m. The entrance in the E arc is blocked by a mass of rubble, including a probable roofing slab 1.3m long. The passage, with door-check and entrance to a N wall chamber is exposed. At this point the thickness of the broch wall would appear to be about 4.0m. There is another apparent mural cell to the S, at the entrance, and a mural passage extending from the W side of the broch around to the SE indicating a "hollow base".
The enclosure abutting the N wall of the broch is 3.0m wide and consists of a course of large stones;the interior is strewn with boulders and rubble.
Revised at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (E G C) 13 July 1961 and (N K B) 18 August 1975.

NC80 4 DUCHARY (‘Leadoch’)
NC/8550 0520
This probable broch in Clyne, Sutherland, is situated on a knoll towards the south end of Loch Brora and about 1 mile south-east of Carrol broch (NC80 3). The site is an overgrown mound about 1.53m (5ft) high and, though there is no trace of the interior wallface, the outer face is visible in places, indicating an overall diameter of 17.69m (58ft) [2]; this was measured more recently as exactly 18.2m (59ft 8in) [1].
The entrance passage, about 4.0mlong, is exposed on the east although it is blocked by a mass of rubble; a door-check is exposed as is the doorway in the right (north) wall leading to a chamber, presumably a guard cell [1]. Traces of another probable guard cell are on the left side, and traces of an apparently ground level intra-mural gallery extend from the west to the south-east (approximately from 12 to 7.30 o'clock) [1]. The site may thus be a probable ground-galleried broch. An enclosure about 3.0m wide abuts the wall on the north side and extends for about a quarter of the circumference.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 80 NE 16: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 11, no. 28. <1>

Sources/Archives (19)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 8550 0519 (70m by 70m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC80NE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	CLYNE

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