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MHG11897 - Broch - Creich

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Full Description

A broch at Creich.

(NC 4116 1121) Broch (NR) OS 6"map, (1967)

The remains of a broch set on slope of hill, with ground falling sharply from site on N & E. The interior is filled with debris, the wall being nowhere visible for more than 5ft above it, reaching a maximum height of 11 ft externally and about 17ft internally on the NW. The south has been heavily robbed to build sheepfolds. The entrance passage in the east is still intact at its inner end and is 18ft 6 ins long, with a guard chamber on the north. An oval mural chamber 7ft south of the entrance is entered from the central court, as is a gallery which is visible within wall on S and W.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

The broch was scheduled in 1935.

The broch still stands to a height of 3.5m on NW and has an overall diameter of 17.8m. Visited by OS (E G C) 7 April 1963.

The broch is as described above, although none of the internal features are particularly well-defined, all being obscured by tumbled stones. Visited by OS (J B) 30 September 1976.

NC41 1 DAIL LANGWELL
NC/4116 1121
This unexcavated broch in Creich, Sutherland, stands on the west side of Glencassley about 7.5 miles above the junction of the rivers Cassley and Oykel (visited 7/7/85). The huge mound of stone sits on a hillock on a slope about. 24m (80ft) above the river. There are no modern stone buildings anywhere near except for some large sheep enclosures built next to the broch on the south-east side.
The structure is full of debris and dilapidated but the wall stands 3.36m (11ft) high on the upstream or north-west side, where the inner face is some 2m higher than the outer. On this side there is a stretch of lintelled intra-mural gallery the roof of which is not far below the top of the adjacent internal wallface. Because of the height of the wall it must be an upper gallery, thus making Dail Langwell a true hollow-walled broch. The inner wallface is even higher on the opposite side. No trace of a scarcement can be seen on the inner face, and the evident height of the wall suggests that it is still buried under the debris in the interior.
The entrance was clearly visible on the east side in 1909 [2] but is hard to trace now; its outer end is presumably hidden by the sheep pens. It is evidently about 5.64m (18ft 6in) long and the inner end was intact; it was then still lintelled over for a distance of 3.0m (10ft). The doorway to a guard cell on the right of the passage was visible 2.59m (8ft 6in) from the exterior, and the roof of its corbelled chamber then also seemed to be intact; no trace of this cell was observed in 1985. A pair of door-checks were visible 1.22m (4ft) inwards from the doorway to this cell so there ought to be another door-frame further forward and hidden by debris. The space between the visible pair is 51cm (20in) and they are composed of 10cm (4in)-thick slabs set at right angles into the wall and projecting slightly from it. A bar-hole and -socket were seen behind the checks and the right hole seemed to lead into the guard cell.
All the other features described in 1909 are still visible. South of the entrance part of an oval mural cell can be seen – probably at about 7.30 o'clock – and the parts of the upper mural gallery about 1.07m (3ft 5in) wide on the north and north-west have already been mentioned. A raised void to the interior can be seen next to the north sector, at about 3 o'clock. On the south side is another stretch of roofed upper gallery with one huge lintel spanning it at about 9 o'clock; this measures 2.13m (7ft) long, 61cm (2ft) wide and 25cm (l0in) thick. There is another raised lintelled void to the interior here. Some of the stones in the wall are very large; one on the south is 1.52m (5ft) long by 91cm (3ft) wide by 30cm (1ft) thick: its upper edge is 1.52m (5ft) above the ground.
Dimensions (taken from [2]); the internal diameter is c. 9.46m (31ft), the wall is about 5.64m (18.5ft) thick at the entrance so the overall diameter is probably about 20.74m (68ft). The wall proportion might therefore be about 54.5%.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 41 SW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 19, no 49. <1>

The scheduling was amended by Historic Environment Scotland with effect from 12/10/2018. <2>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 4116 1121 (70m by 70m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC41SW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	CREICH

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