Monument record MHG1645 - Broch - Whitegate

Whitegate, Keiss, ND36SE0003

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 the later Iron Age and occur frequently in north and west of Scotland. (41)

Whitegate lies on a level beach terrace, very close to the broch known as the Harbour Mound. Yet another broch, known as the Road broch, lies further up the slope. All three brochs have complexes of buildings surrounding the tower and may have had quite large populations. (47)

Even though brochs in Caithness do occur close together, this group of three is exceptional, both for their closeness and for the complexity of the surrounding settlement. Unfortunately, we do not have enough information to be sure that all three were occupied at the one time. (46)

(c. 8m/11.8m)
Armit, I., 1997. Celtic Scotland. Edinburgh: Batsford.
RCAHMS. 1911. Caithness. Edinburgh: HMSO, 156-7, No. 516.
Information from SCRAN Project, March, 2000

ND36SE 3.00 3541 6120.
Whitegate Broch (NR) OS 1:10,000 map, (1973)

Whitegate Broch has an internal diameter of 26ft and a wall thickness of about 13ft. The wall remains to a height of about 3ft.
The slab settings in the central court and chamber in wall opposite the entrance are secondary, as also is series of outbuildings through which entrance is prolonged.
The finds from broch include grain-rubbers and rotary querns and fragments of a large jar of coarse, unglazed pottery from one of the internal, secondary structures. This has been reconstructed and is now in NMAS, as are finds from excavation by Sir Francis Tress Barry. Anderson notes remains of foundations of an oblong, rectangular building within a few yards of broch. This has been 45ft long by 24ft broad with dry-built walls about 4ft thick. This building seems to compare with the houses of the Viking settlement at Freswick (ND36NE 4), although as Childe points out, these were probably fore-runners of the 'black-house type', in which case the building might simply be one of these.
Probably similar buildings are also noted at Keiss Broch (ND36SE 20 and the Road Broch (ND36SW 1).
A Young 1964; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1893; 1909; J Anderson 1901; V G Childe 1943.

As described above and in a ruinous condition.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (R D) 14 September 1965.

Internal diameter c.8m, walls c.4m x 1m high. Located on the coastal pasture, 100m N of Keiss broch. Excavated by Tress Barry and now in a ruinous and overgrown condition. WIC 099.
C Batey, Caithness Coastal Survey 1981

Whitegate Broch is as described by the previous authorities; the excavation was never back-filled and the walling is still exposed. The dry-stone structures noted by Batey a short distance to the SW and NE of the broch form no intelligible pattern and their date and purpose remain uncertain.
Visited by OS (N K B) 22 July 1982

The broch was scheduled by Historic Environment Scotland in 2016. <1> <2>

ND36SE 3.01 ND 3549 6121 Structure
ND36SE 3.02 ND 3545 6117 Structure