Monument record MHG11049 - Skail, homestead

Scheduled 3/2003 see secondary file for details - HAW 4/2003

At NC 7135 4744, occupying summit of a steep-sided spur connected to hill-slope to W by a narrow saddle, are fragmentary remains of a defensive work, completely turf-covered. It comprises a sub-oval, fairly level area about 20m E-W by 15m N-S, with a slight counterscarp 0.3m high on west arc. Around the periphery protruding through the turf are several stones in sufficient numbers to suggest an encircling wall which has been almost completely obliterated; no wall faces are exposed and there is no tumble at base of knoll. (The work is situated within a walled pasture field and may have been robbed to build the wall and adjacent farm buildings). A gully extending into summit area from SE may be a later mutilation. On W side, across saddle at the only practical point of access, is a ditch, 1.2m deep and 9.0m wide, which from its size and position has an obvious defensive function.
This ditch is similar to other examples associated with brochs in Strathnaver (See NC75SE 9 and 11, NC74NW 3), and also to other, as yet unclassified defensive works (See NC65NE 1, NC64SE 30).
Surveyed at 1:10,000. Visited by OS (N K B) 25 January 1979.