Monument record MHG722 - Broch - Achvarasdal House
Summary
No summary available.
Location
Grid reference | Centred NC 9834 6468 (70m by 70m) (Buffered by site type) |
---|---|
Map sheet | NC96SE |
Old County | CAITHNESS |
Civil Parish | REAY |
Geographical Area | CAITHNESS |
Map
Type and Period (1)
Full Description
Achvarasdal House, NC96SE0005
NC96SE 5 9834 6469.
Brough (NR) Human Remains and Querns found (NAT)
OS 6"map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)
Bones, two or three human skulls and several knocking stones were found about 1870 in the interior.
Name Book 1873.
This broch, with its entrance-passage in ESE, has been excavated without exposing the exterior wall. The interior is 33ft in diameter with walls 13ft thick and 5ft 3ins high. From the inner end of passage, to right, at 19.5ft, measured direct, is a partly reconstructed stair chamber. There is evidence of a guard chamber in passage. There are indications of considerable but unexcavated outbuildings. A rotary quern and a large bottomless mortar lie in the interior of the broch. Two narrow rectangular sharpening stones are preserved at Achvarasdal Lodge.
RCAHMS 1911.
The broch was Scheduled in 1938.
Set in a large grassy mound are remains of a broch with the interior wall standing 1.7m high. Measuring 10m across the internal diameter, it has a chamber in NE segment and an entrance 0.9m wide in SE, where the width of the broch wall can be seen as 4.1m. No outer works could be traced. A fragment of a small quern stone still lies beside and the flag staff in the centre. The two sharpening stones formerly at Achvarasdal Lodge have been lost.
Revised at 1:2500. Visited by OS (R D) 13 November 1964.
A solid-based broch with a checked entrance in the ESE, with signs of a blocked-up guard-cell door behind the right check. There is an interior door, probably to the mural stair in the E, and there are also traces of out-buildings. A rotary quern which lay inside the broch is now in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.
E W MacKie 1974; 1975.
(NC 9834 6469) Broch (NR) OS 6"map, (1963)
A broch, as described by the previous authorities. No outbuilding remains can be identified in the dense scrub and grass prevailing around the site.
Visited by OS (J M) 19 August 1981.
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)
The interior of Achvarasdal and its entrance passage have been excavated, leaving the exterior wall face and a number of associated buildings still buried within the large grassy mound which once covered the entire broch. This work revealed a possible guard chamber, a stair within the thickness of the wall and ‘two or three human skulls’. (56)
The rest of the finds from Achvarasdal suggest the domestic activities of the occupants. They include two hone stones for sharpening metal tools, a rotary quern for grinding grain, a large mortar and several ‘knocking stones’, perhaps a primitive means of separating the grain from the straw. (47)
(10m/13.9m/0.6m)
Armit, I., 1997. Celtic Scotland. Edinburgh: Batsford.
RCAHMS. 1911. Caithness. Edinburgh: HMSO, 95, No. 353.
Information from SCRAN Project, March, 2000
The broch was re-scheduled by Historic Environment Scotland in 2016 to better reflect its position and area of interest/importance. <1> <2>
The GIS spatial data was amended in 2017 to its position as shown on OS MasterMap. <3>
Sources/Archives (17)
- --- SHG14538 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14539 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14540 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14541 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14542 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14543 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14544 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14545 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14546 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG14547 Image/Photograph(s): Achvarasdal House. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
- --- SHG1525 Text/Publication/Article: MacKie, E W. 1974. 'Some new quernstones from brochs and duns', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 104 1971-2, p.137-46. Proc Soc Antiq Scot. 137-46. 140.
- --- SHG2472 Text/Publication/Volume: MacKie, E W. 1975. Scotland: an archaeological guide: from the earliest times to the twelfth century. 230.
- --- 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. . 95, No. 353.
- --- SHG3399 Text/Publication/Volume: Name Book (County). Object Name Books of the Ordnance Survey. Book No. 9, 62.
- <1> SHG27658 Text/Designation Notification/Scheduled Monument: MacIver, M.. 2016. Changes to the schedule of Monuments 27/09/2016. Historic Environment Scotland. Digital.
- <2> SHG27659 Text/Designation Notification/Scheduled Monument: Historic Environment Scotland. 2016. Amended entry in the Schedule of Monuments: SM514: Achvarasdal House, broch 65m NE of. Historic Environment Scotland. Digital.
- <3>XY SHG23361 Image/Map: Ordnance Survey. Ordnance Survey Mastermap. Digital. [Mapped features: #49771 Indicative centroid, ; #101789 ]
Finds (2)
Protected Status/Designation
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (1)
Record last edited
Oct 18 2017 4:54PM