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MHG12186 - Broch, Shinness

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NC51NW 1 5273 1526.
Shinness, Loch Shin, NC51NW0001

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 later Iron Age and occur frequently in the north and west of Scotland. (41)
Shinness broch overlooks a narrow arm of Loch Shin, protected by the long promontory of The Airde, suggesting that its location close to a sheltered area of water was important to the people who occupied it. (36)
Although this broch survives only as a grass covered mound of rubble, with occasional courses of masonry visible, its location just above the loch shore means that it remains a dramatic monument. For the people living on the hillslopes above the broch, and who looked to it as a source of authority, this presence must have been even greater. (59)
(16.6m/1.8m high)
Armit, I., 1997. Celtic Scotland. Edinburgh: Batsford.
Gourlay, R., 1996. Sutherland. An Archaeological Guide. Edinburgh: Birlinn.
RCAHMS. 1911. Sutherland. Edinburgh: HMSO, 136, No. 393.
Information from SCRAN Project, March, 2000

(NC 5273 1526) Broch (NR). OS 6" map (1963)

The remains of a broch situated on a natural knoll. In 1909 it comprised a pile of stones 7ft to 8ft high with, in the SE side, the remains of two chambers which now appear as infilled depressions. A small portion of the outer face of the wall is visible on the south side, but the structure is so dilapidated that no measurements can be taken. Field clearance stones have been dumped on the site. (See also NC51NW 5). RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909; Visited by OS (WDJ) 26 April 1961

The tumbled remains of this broch are as described in the previous field report; it was probably about 17.5m overall diameter. It is on the summit of a knoll which itself appears to have been levelled to accommodate the broch.
Re-surveyed at 1:2500 and 1:10 000.
Visited by OS (NKB) 17 September 1976

The remains of this broch are situated on a low knoll overlooking the NE shore of Loch Shin, some 150m W of Croft Cottage. The broch has been reduced to a mound of rubble about 1.8m in height, but enough of the outer face of the wall survives to show that it measures 16.6m in diameter. The line of the inner face cannot be identified but within thickness of the wall on the E, the N end of a corbelled chamber is visible; diametrically opposite it, on the W, there are suggestions of the collapsed roofing slabs of a second chamber. The outer wall face is preserved on the S where up to two courses are visible.
Surveyed at 1:125 Visited by RCAHMS (SH) 9 October 1989

NC51 3 SHINESS
NC/5273 1526
Possible broch in Lairg, Sutherland, consisting in 1909 of a featureless cairn of stones some 2.1-2.4m (7-8ft) high in which the remains of two chambers were visible on the south-east side [2]. It stands on a natural knoll which may have been levelled off to accommodate it [1]. A fragment of the outer wallface can be seen on the south [1].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 51 NW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 136, no. 393. <1>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 5273 1525 (70m by 70m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC51NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	LAIRG

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