caithness-1911/05_215

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS, ETC., IN COUNTY OF CAITHNESS. [Page] 129

PARISH OF WATTEN.

on the left, was an entrance 2' above floor level, measuring some
2' in width, 4' 6" in height, and 5' in length, leading to the stair,
which rose to the right and was visible for a distance of some 25',
with a width of about 3'. At the foot of the stair was a long
chamber some 33' in length, finished with a rounded end. The
entrance to the stair and part of the guard chamber still retained their
roofs of flagstones. Some 5' to the E. of the entrance to the stair was
a small built aperture about 1 1/2' wide by 4' in height, placed high in
the wall, giving light to the long chamber within. Between it and
the stair entrance was a small recess or ambry, while another recess
of larger dimensions was situated some 8' above the ground, about 9'
to the left of the main entrance. Measured direct, some 15' from the
right of the inner end of the entrance was a passage some 2' wide and
5' long leading to another stair, also rising to the right. In the
interior court to the left of the entrance was a rectangular setting of
flags erected against the wall, and from the floor other three flags
projected respectively on either side and across the front of the door-
way, the latter some 3' back from it. The greatest height of wall
exposed in the interior was 10'. The broch was filled in by order
of the proprietor before its excavation was completed.
O.S.M., CAITH., xxiii. Visited, 27th May 1910.

467. Broch, "Carn a' Chladda," Scouthal. - On the W. side of the
road to Acharole, from Watten, about 1/2 m. beyond Scouthal, is a
grassy hillock. The character of the stones disclosed about its surface
points to its being a broch. It measures some 70' in diameter and
some 10' in elevation.
O.S.M., CAITH., xxiii. Visited, 27th May 1910.

468. Broch, Watten. - In a grass park on the edge of a bank above
the Strath Burn and about 1/4 m S. by W. of Watten village , are the
remains of a broch beneath a grass-covered knoll. The base of the
building is exposed at one or two places showing that the diameter
over all was 64'. On the SE. for a distance of about 8' a small portion
of wall is exposed to a height of some 2', evidently the inner wall
face of a chamber. The mound is about 8' high.
On the S. several very large boulders in line project a foot or
two above the turf at a distance of 22' from the base of the broch,
indicating the remains of an outer wall.
O.S.M., CAITH., xviii. ("Mound"). Visited, 27th May 1910.

469. Broch, Cogle, or Coghill. - The remains of this broch are
situated in the stackyard to the E. of Coghill farm-house, and are
overgrown with vegetation. The ruin was excavated by Dr Anstruther
Davidson in 1905, and a number of relics were found in it. These
consist of bones, shells, deer-horn, remains of three vessels of un-
ornamented pottery, numerous stone pounders, rubbing stones, thin
discs of shale, and a fine bone pin, etc. Querns are represented by
remains of the saddle variety only. The relics are preserved at the
school-house at Gersa and in the farm-house.
A plan made at the time of the excavation by Mr John Nicolson,
Nybster, and here reproduced (fig. 31), shows the following

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