Monument record MHG9777 - Cinn Trolla

Notes and 3 photos sent in by M & M McGuire of Derby for Highland Archaeology Challenge September 2003. See Assoc. Docs file.

JW 27.10.03


Cinn Trolla or Kintradwell, NC90NW0005

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 the north and west of Scotland. (41)

Surrounding broch tower at Kintradwell is an extensive settlement. Passages link these buildings with each other and with the broch tower, suggesting the power of the people who occupied the tower at the centre. Before they were fully excavated, it may have been one of these passages which gave rise to local tradition that a passage ran all the way from here to Dunrobin, 7 miles away. (69)

When Kintradwell was excavated in latter half of C19th, the entrance passage was found to be 2.1m high, contrasting markedly with the low, narrow entrances common in most brochs. Within the tower was a rock-cut well, over 2m deep and with steps leading down into it. (49)
(9.4m/14.8m/3m)

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

Gourlay, R., 1996. Sutherland. An Archaeological Guide. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 74.

RCAHMS. 1911. Sutherland. Edinburgh: HMSO, 160-1, No. 467.

Information from SCRAN Project March, 2000

NC90NW 5 9293 0807.

(NC 9293 0807) Cinn Trolla (NAT) Broch (NR)
OS 6"map, (1964)

Kintradwell or Cinn Trolla Broch. This broch is situated on a natural terrace near shore. When excavated, the entrance passage in W side was found to be 7ft high at the outer end, but its floor is now covered with debris. At 6ft in from the outer end and again at 14ft in there is a contraction for a door- way. Between these two door checks a guard chamber opens on the right. Within the walls are two chambers, one of which contained a staircase of which 13 steps remain, mostly covered in debris. The broch has an interior diameter of 31ft and the height of the wall in the interior varies from 10ft to 15ft. It is 18ft thick at the entrance,and a scarcement runs round the inner face 8ft from the floor. A well, 7ft deep with steps leading into it, was found in the SE quadrant, close to the wall.
Outside the broch for a distance of 60ft from its base are the remains of irregularly built constructions connected by passages, with an access leading up to the entrance of the broch.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1909.

Surveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (W D J) 6 April 1962.

Cinn Trolla (name verified) is a broch, generally as described by the RCAHMS though its condition has deteriorated and the guard chamber is now deroofed. Visited by OS (J B) 6 Dcember 1975.

Finds from the broch are in Dunrobin Museum: (Acc Nos 1886.27-50; X90-100) Shale rings and discs (Acc Nos X92-97 and 99-100a); a shale bead (Acc No X98) from either this broch or Backies broch (NC80SW 1). Information from TS of Catalogue of Dunrobin Museum, by A S Henshall.

Lynn Fraser submitted several photographs of the broch via the Highland HER Facebook page and Flickr group. <1><2>