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MHG754 - Site of possible Cairn or Broch, Achbuiligan Tulloch

Summary

Turf covered stony mound which may be the remains of a cairn or broch.

Type and Period (3)

Protected Status

Full Description

Achbuiligan Tulloch (Brough) (NR)
OS 6"map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)

The ruins of the broch of Achbuiligan Tulloch are covered by a grassy mound. The area covered by the broch measures approximately 60ft and the depression marking the interior about 27ft, but no wall faces are exposed. On the SW the slope is steep and has an elevation of 13ft, while from the opposite direction the ground rises gradually. On the N, the ruin has been pillaged to some extent (RCAHMS 1911). It was opened at the top some time ago (Name Book 1873).
RCAHMS 1911; Name Book 1873.

Achbuiligan Tullock (NAT) Broch (NR) (remains of) OS 6"map, (1967)

This turf-covered stony mound survives to a height of 4.5m and measures 48m N-S by 30m transversely. There is an oval depression 0.7m deep in the top which may be a result of excavation. E side of the mound has been mutilated recently where a modern dry stone construction has been made from the spoil. A facing of dry stone slabs, 0.3m high, is exposed to the NE. This feature is more suggestive of a cairn than a broch.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (N K B) 24 11 1964.

Achbuiligan Tullock is a turf-covered, elongated mound measuring 45m NNE-SSW by 26m transversely, and rising gently from the N to a summit, 4.5m high, towards the S end. The summit area is disturbed, probably by surface quarrying. Soil erosion at the base reveals a content predominantly of earth suggesting that mound may be in part natural, its profile having been sharpened by ploughing around edge. In SE side at base is an arc of walling; this has not the heavy build of a broch wall, but is possibly a revetment of an outwork or it may be relatively recent. Apart from this possible revetment there is no evidence to classify this mound as remains of a broch.
Visited by OS (N K B) 8 October 1981.

NC96 1 ACHBUILIGAN TULLOCH NC/9894 6570
Possible broch, or natural mound, in Reay, Caithness, consisting of a grassy mound situated in a field about 100m north of Loch Achbuiligan (Illus. 7.210). On the south-west the slope is steep and rises to 3.97m (13ft), but elsewhere the mound rises gradually. The depression marking the interior is apparent but no wallfaces are exposed. The mound may be partly natural and doubts about its covering a broch have been expressed [1].
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC 96 NE 17: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 94, no. 350: 3. Mercer 1985, no. FOR 14, 101, 156 and fig. 57. <1>

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 9893 6570 (14m by 14m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC96NE
Civil Parish	REAY
Geographical Area	CAITHNESS

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