stirling-1963-vol-1/05_120

Transcription

No. 100 -- BROCH -- No. 100
be its shape. Although no remains are now visible, the
site may be represented by a rocky knoll, measuring
about 200 ft. from E. to W. by about 50 ft. transversely,
within Colziumbea plantation.

739777 -- NS 77 NW (unnoted) -- 19 June 1954

BROCH

100. Broch, The Tappoch, Tor Wood. This broch
(Fig. 24) is situated at a height of 380 ft. O.D. near
the centre of Tor Wood, 700 yds. WSW. of spot-level
214 on the by-road that runs from Larbert to Stirling
by West Plean. It can be seen on the skyline from this
point. Its position is a typical one for a Lowland broch;
it stands on the brink of a broken rocky slope so that in
one direction it commands wide views - in this case the
slope falls to the W. and the views extend from WSW.
through N. to ENE. - while in the opposite direction
the approaches are gentle and include some ground
slightly higher than that on which the broch stands.
Before the structure was excavated in 1864 ¹ it appeared
simply as a mound, the only indication that it might not
be natural being provided by laid stones appearing in its
SE. sector. It is plain that the excavators, even when they
had cleared the interior, remained under the impression
that the structure was simply a chamber sunk into a
natural knoll. In the course of their exploration they
removed a mass of boulders and debris, which they
estimated to weigh upwards of 200 tons, laid bare the
inner wall-faces and an inclined floor formed by the
natural rock, and opened the entrance-passage, stair-
lobby and stair. On the floor they found a central
hearth and a number of relics described below. As was
natural in view of their belief that they were dealing with
a chambered mound, they made no attempt to find the
outer face of the wall; and this is now almost wholly
concealed by earth and debris, including that resulting
from the clearance of 1864. Portions of the outer face
which appear on the W., NW. and N. give wall-
thicknesses of from 17 ft. to 24 ft; these are not, however,
at ground level but slightly above that of the scarcement,
the thickness at present ground level, as measured along
the entrance-passage, being 20 ft. 6 in. At the entrance
it can be seen that the outer wall-face is battered to the
extent of 9 in. in five courses.
The entrance is in the SE. and is 2 ft. 7 in. wide. It is
today approached by a sunken pathway made through
the debris that surrounds the outside of the broch, and
the stonework and kerbing seen along the sides of this
pathway probably represent revetments inserted in 1864
to retain the debris. The outer portion of the entrance-
passage increases in breadth by one foot as it penetrates
the wall, and at 9 ft. 9 in. from the outside it is checked
for a door and widens to 4 ft. 6 in. Nine inches within
the checks there is the usual bar-hole (Pl. 6 C) on the
N. side, with a recess opposite to receive the end of the
bar; these openings are both 9 in. square, the former
being at least 5 ft. 9 in. and the latter 1 ft. 3 in. deep.
Within the checks the N. wall of the passage maintains
its original alinement, but the S. wall diverges slightly
and gives the passage a breadth of nearly 5 ft. at 3 ft. 5 in.
behind the checks. At its inner end, 10 ft. 8 in. from the
checks, the passage narrows to 2 ft. 6 in. Two passage-
lintels remain in situ (Pl. 6 B), and the broken ends of
others can be seen in the inner portion of the passage;
the apparent headroom at the checks is now 5 ft. 3 in.,
but the true depth to the base of the passage wall was
found to be 8 ft., with the result that the bar-hole is seen
to have been placed at a normal height above the threshold
and not, as previously appeared, within a few inches of
the ground.
The shape of the interior (Pl. 5) is irregularly cir-
cular, showing a bulge where the passage enters, while
the W. half is noticeably flattened. The rock floor found
by the excavators has now been covered up with debris,
earth and vegetation, and the surface of the court con-
sequently stands higher than it did in 1864. It now falls
3 ft. 5 in. from W. to E. and the wall-face stands above
it to a height of about 8 ft., while it measures 35 ft. 6 in.
from N. to S. by 32 ft. transversely. ² The masonry
consists of large, rough blocks, probably quarried from
the neighbouring cliffs and outcrops, pinned with smaller
material. The wall-face contains numerous small
recesses (Pl. 6 A) about a foot or less in height and
breadth and from 1 ft. to 3 ft. in depth. Their purpose is
obscure, and the excavators of 1864 reported that
nothing was found in them "except some white clay
peculiar to Torwood" ³ ; on the other hand one of the
two similar recesses at Coldoch broch, Perthshire, was
represented in a sketch made about 1870 as divided in
two by a shelf. ⁴ Their number is difficult to calculate,
as in some places rather similar cavities have resulted
accidentally from the dislodgement of facing-stones,
but at least thirteen may be regarded as true construc-
tional features. At heights above the present level of the
interior which vary between 4 ft. 5 in. on the W. and
about 7 ft. on the E., a scarcement, 1 ft. to 1 ft. 6 in. wide
and suffering from dilapidation, runs all round the internal
wall-face. It can be seen that the innermost lintels of the
entrance-passage and of the stair-lobby, both now
vanished, formed parts of the scarcement ledge. The
stair-lobby (Pl. 6 A), which retains a double lintel,
enters from the court 12 ft. 3 in. to the left, or SW., of the
mouth of the entrance-passage, its own entrance being
2 ft. 7 in. wide and, at present, 4 ft. 9 in. high. It extends
11 ft. into the wall, showing a recess at the SE. corner
and what may be another just inside the entrance, and
at its inner end returns W., widens to 4 ft. 1 in., and
gives on to the foot of the stair which rises clockwise in

1 P.S.A.S., vi (1864-6), 259 ff.
2 The excavators recorded a height of 11 ft. 4 in. on the N.
and 8 ft. 6 in. on the S., the difference from today's measure-
ments being accounted for by the wasting of the upper courses
and by the rise in the level of the floor.
3 P.S.A.S., vi (1864-6), 261.
4 Ibid., lxxxiii (1948-9), 14, n. 1.

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