caithness-1911/05_039

Transcription

xxxvi -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (sCOTLAND) COMMISSION.

The animal remains which the Caithness brochs have yielded
include those of the reindeer, the true elk, and possibly the brown
bear, also the great auk.

FORTS.
The fortified enclosures of Caithness may be divided into three
main classes according to their situations, viz.:-

Hill forts.
Promontory forts.
Defensive enclosures on low ground and of small dimensions.

In the first class four are included, viz. - "Buaile Oscar" on Ben
Freiceadain (No. 354), and the fort on Cnoc an Ratha near Shurrery
(No. 355), both in Reay parish; an unnoted fort to the S. of the
Loch of Yarrows (No. 512), and the fort of Garrywhin (No. 528).
All these are stone forts, surrounded for the most part by thick
walls built of flat stones, following the outline of the eminences on
which they are situated, and in structure resembling the walls of
the similar forts in Sutherland.
Within the fort of "Buaile Oscar," and occupying a conspicuous
position, are the considerable remains of a chambered round cairn.
The fort on Cnoc an Ratha, in the same district, shows in the interior
the ruins of what appears to be a bee-hive hut, and is remarkable for
the large hut circle placed against the exterior face of the wall to
the right of the entrance, apparently a part of the original plan. The
fort of Garrywhin is particularly noticeable for the details of its
entrance, a feature no longer prominent in the others. The wall,
which along the flanks measures some 6' in thickness, on either side of
the entrance has been increased to about 12', where against its outer
and inner faces there have been set large slabs or portal stones, three
of which remain in situ. Of the fort on the Yarrow Hills very little
remains, and it is now recognisable mainly by the ditch in front of
its entrance. With the hill forts has been associated, from its situa-
tion, a small, strongly fortified enclosure at the end of a rocky ridge
above Loch Watenan, in the parish of Wick (No. 526). The interior
is of such small dimensions that, were it not for the character of the
remains and the absence of ruins, it might be taken for a broch. It
greatly resembles a construction at East Kinnauld in Sutherland, and
noted in the Inventory for that county.* In both cases there is an
inner circular enclosure with a diameter of about 30', and an outer
encircling wall along the edge of the narrow ridge or rock on which
the construction has been placed. It is probably a coincidence, but
perhaps worthy of observation, that in each case a broch has existed
a few hundred yards away.
Of promontory forts there are only three, and the application of
the term to two of these is dubious. The undoubted example exists
on the most easterly portion of the promontory of Holborn Head
near Thurso (No. 438). It has been formed by the construction of
a stone wall across the promontory, in rear of a spot where the
breadth of the neck has been diminished by the erosion of the rock
from either side. The interior of the fort is barren and wind-swept,
and shows no signs of occupation.

*Inventory of the Monuments of Sutherland (No. 479).