MHG1211 - Scrabster Broch
Summary
No summary available.
Type and Period (1)
- BROCH (Iron Age - 550 BC to 560 AD)
Protected Status
Full Description
Brough (NR) OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)
Pict's House (remains of): This is very much broken down, but it still has a large appearance. There are two ditches and though greatly destroyed, they still shown an artificial feature that has at one time encircled the centre part of building.
Name Book 1872.
There is a mound containing a broch. The mound is encircled by a ditch 32ft in width and 8-9ft deep with a bank formed from upcast crowning the counter-scarp; from the top of the scarp rises a parapet wall or rampart about 3ft high. The ruin is about 20ft back from the parapet and completely covered with grass; it is 73ft in diameter, 4 to 5ft high, while the depression marking the extent of the interior is 32ft in diameter.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910.
The remains of this broch are generally as described above. The ditch, which has a bank on both its sides, has been obliterated on E side, only the inner scarp being now traceable. A small enclosure, probably of later date, abuts onto the outer bank of the ditch on the SW.
Revised at 1:2500. Visited by OS (W D J) 16 April 1962.
Broch (NR) (remains of) OS 6"map, (1969)
A broch, as described. Visited by OS (NKB) 24 8 1981.
A broch comprising a grass-covered mound, 16m diameter and 3m high, bounded on the N by two banks. The inner (12m from the broch) is 48 by 32m; the outer (a further 12m away) is 60 by 46m.
R J Mercer 1981.
ND06 9 SCRABSTER MAINS ('Brough') ND/0867 6969
Possible broch in Thurso, Caithness, consisting of a grassy mound surrounded by a ditch and bank [2]. A survey in 1962 claimed that the mound clearly contained a broch [1] but a more recent one produced a plan which shows no broch masonry and discloses two banks on the north; the existence of the ditch is doubted [3]. This site seems likely to be the same as the one described as a 'Pict's house' which was alleged to have been opened up a few years before 1911 and a few coins dug up [4].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. ND 06 NE 4: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 118, no. 429: 3. Mercer 1981, 81, fig. 33 and 149, no. 449: 4. NMRS site no. ND 06 NE 8. <1>
Sources/Archives (6)
- --- SHG11910 Image/Photograph(s): Broch - Scrabster.. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG11911 Image/Photograph(s): Broch - Scrabster.. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG2511 Text/Report/Fieldwork Report: Mercer, R J. 1981. Archaeological field survey in northern Scotland: volume II, 1980-81. University of Edinburgh. 30/12/1981. Paper and Digital. 149, No. 449.
- --- SHG2664 Text/Report: RCAHMS. 1911. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Third report and inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Caithness. . 118, No. 492.
- --- SHG3341 Text/Publication/Volume: Name Book (County). Object Name Books of the Ordnance Survey. Book No. 11, 63.
- <1> SHG26111 Text/Publication/Monograph: Mackie, E.. 2007. The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC - AD 500: Architecture and material culture Part 2 (I & II) The Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands. BAR British Series. 444. Paperback. ND06 9 SCRABSTER MAINS.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred ND 0867 6970 (96m by 97m) (2 map features) |
|---|---|
| Map sheet | ND06NE |
| Civil Parish | THURSO |
| Geographical Area | CAITHNESS |
Finds (0)
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Investigations/Events (0)
External Links (2)
- http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM579 (Online designation description (Historic Environment Scotland))
- https://canmore.org.uk/site/7810 (View RCAHMS Canmore entry for this site)
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