caithness-1911/05_173

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS, ETC., IN COUNTY OF CAITHNESS. -- [Page] 95

PARISH OF REAY.

of the mound covering the broch is 6'. Towards the W. there appear
to have been numerous out-buildings.
O.S.M., CAITH., x. Visited, 8th September 1910.

352. Broch, Creag Leathan, Achvarasdal. - On the haunch of Creag
Leathan, facing the N., and some 3/4 m. S. of Achvarasdal Lodge, are the
remains of a construction most probably a broch. The stones have
been in great measure removed from it, and all details obliterated.
The original diameter has been about 66'.
O.S.M., CAITH., x. ("Mound"). Visited, 8th September 1910.

353. Broch, Achvarasdal Lodge. - Situated in a small park im-
mediately to the N. of Achvarasdal Lodge, is a broch which has been
excavated. The entrance is from ESE. through the wall 13' in thick-
ness. At 4' inwards are checks for a door formed by a rebate of the
passage wall, and on the left behind this a rebuilt portion of wall
appears to indicate the entrance to a guard chamber. The width of
the entrance passage is 2' 9" at the outer end, 2' 6" at the inner end,
and 3' 7" behind the door checks. The height of the passage walls is
5' 4" and the covering slabs are all removed. The interior diameter
of the broch is 33'. From the inner end of the entrance passage on
the right at 19' 6" distant, measured direct, is an entrance 2' wide
giving access to a chamber in part reconstructed, from which has
apparently risen the stair. In the interior the average height of
the broch wall, which has been in places built up, is 5' 3", while
on the exterior it has not been exposed. There are indications of
considerable outbuildings which have not been excavated. A rotary
quern and a mortar of large size, the bottom of which has been broken
out, lie in the interior; and there are preserved at Achvarasdal Lodge
two narrow oblong sharpening stones, rectangular in section, of a fine-
grained, dark coloured stone.
O.S.M., CAITH., x. Visited, 16th September 1910.

354. Fort, "Buaile Oscar," Ben Freiceadain. - On the summit of
Ben Freiceadain, at an elevation of some 750' above sea-level, is
a stone-built fort. It occupies the whole of the summit, which
measures some 850' x 500' (O.S. measurement), and is oval in outline.
Commencing where the slope of the hill is less steep on the W., a
stone wall some 5' in thickness has been built along the edge of
a natural terrace, which stretches on an average for a distance
of some 20' out from the base of the outcropping rock which forms
the side of the actual summit. This wall is carried round the N.
side of the hill on the upper slope and terminates on the NE.
Thence, round by the S. to the point of its commencement, the
scarp of outcropping rock and the natural declivity of the hill are
so steep as to render an artificial defence unnecessary. From WNW.
there has been an entrance some 5' broad through the wall, which at
this point has been increased in width to some 15'. On the left or
N. side of the entrance in the interior a large slab, 3' in height,
3' 6" in breadth, and 5' in thickness, stands against the face of the
wall in the same manner as the slabs at the entrance to the fort of
Garrywhin (No. 528).