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Carn Liath (broch)57°59′14″N 3°54′43″W / 57.987215°N 3.912052°W
Càrn Liath (English: Grey Cairn)[1] is an Iron Age broch on the eastern shore of the Scottish Highlands, near Golspie, Sutherland. LocationThe broch is located near Golspie in Sutherland.[2] It stands beside the A9 road, around 4 kilometres northeast of Golspie.[3] The site is under the care of Historic Environment Scotland and has a car-park and information board for visitors.[1] DescriptionThe broch has an external diameter of around 19 metres and an internal diameter of around 10 metres.[2] The broch wall is particularly thick.[1] The entrance passage is on the east side and is over 4 metres long.[2] The entrance has elaborate door checks and a bar-hole to control access to the interior.[4] On the right-hand side of the entrance passage is a small guard cell.[1] The surrounding enclosure contains the ruins of additional stone buildings.[1] ExcavationsThe broch was first excavated in the 19th century by the Duke of Sutherland, and was initially thought to be a burial cairn.[5] Finds included pottery, flint chips, stone hammers, mortars and pestles, querns, whorls, shale rings, long-handled bone combs, a whale bone club, a silver fibula, steatite cups and an iron blade.[5] In 1909 the entrance passage was still visible on the east side of the broch, but by 1960 no structural features were discernible.[2] The site was excavated again in 1986.[5] This showed that the site was occupied in the Bronze Age, before the broch was built.[5] A Bronze Age cist burial with a food vessel was discovered.[5] The foundations of many outbuildings were found in the enclosure surrounding the broch.[4] Although many were clearly from a later period, some may have been contemporary with the broch.[4] Notes
Further reading
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carn Liath, Golspie.
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