Monument record MHG9446 - Broch, East Kinnauld

NC70SE 5 7438 0159.

East Kinnauld, Strath Fleet, NC70SW0005

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)

East Kinnauld sits high above Strath Fleet, commanding a very extensive view. It stands on the very edge of the break of slope, so that while it is difficult to approach the broch from below, it is easily reached from all other directions. Therefore, in spite of the apparently straightforward appearance of defence, this broch is intended as a more subtle statement of power and authority. (67)

Although now quite dilapidated, the walls of the broch still stand to around 3m in height and the entrance passage and gallery within the thickness of the double-skinned wall are clearly visible. (32)
(9.4m/14.6m.3m)

Armit, I., 1997. Celtic Scotland. Edinburgh: Batsford.

Gourlay, R., 1996. Sutherland. An Archaeological Guide, pg. 70.

RCAHMS. 1911. Sutherland. Edinburgh: HMSO, 164-5, No. 477.

Information from SCRAN Project, March, 2000

(NC 7438 0159) Broch (NR) OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)

The remains of a broch situated on a rocky peak and commanding an extensive view. It is much dilapidated, but wall stands to a considerable height, beneath debris, all round. The interior diameter is 31ft and the wall thickness 17ft. The entrance, 2ft 9ins wide at the exterior and 3ft wide at the interior end, is in the west and has an orthodox guard-chamber in the south wall. Another chamber opens into the north wall, forward of the guard-chamber, its end being linked to the interior of the broch by a passage, at right angles to the chamber. The debris in the courtyard obscures the entrance to the staircase but the gallery is visible in the arc NW-NNE. The maximum height of wall visible above the debis on both the outside and the inside is 4ft.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

The broch is as described and planned by the RCAHMS, except that the gallery is traceable round most of the circuit and short sections of the scarcement are visible on the inner wall-face of the south arc. Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R B) 28 February 1966.

A broch 9.5m diameter within a wall 4.1m thick in the E arc increasing to 5.1m in the sides of the entrance passage, door-checked, from the west. There are traces of a mural gallery in the north half only, and no sign of a scarcement. Other features are as described in the RCAHMS report.
Revised at 1:10,000. Visited by OS (J M) 18 March 1981.

This broch is situated on a rocky hill about 200m NE of East Kinnauld fort (NC70SW 17). The court measures 9.4m in diameter within a rubble wall, 5.2m thick and up to 3m high. The entrance-passage lies on the W, the internal opening of which is surmounted by a triangular lintel, and guard-chambers open off either side of the passage. An intra-mural gallery is visible within the N arc of the wall.
(ROG95 541) Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 6 June 1995