Tappoch Broch

Tappoch broch was first excavated in 1864 by Colonel Joseph Dundas. Small-scale excavations have taken place near the site sporadically since. In 2014, a conservation project run by Archaeology Scotland and grant aided by Forestry Commission Scotland cleared the site of scrub vegetation. The broch was then surveyed by laser scanning undertaken by AOC Archaeology. This was combined by an key-hole excavation of the surrounding earlier hillfort by Dr Murray Cook. The results of which were published in the Proceedings of The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and are available here.

The chamber of the broch, whose walls are about six metres thick, still reach a height of two or three metres, but in recent times whole wall sections have collapsed. The dry stonework is built of large, irregular stone blocks from the immediate vicinity. The oval chamber measures 10.8 to 9.8 metres, is paved and has a large fire spot in the middle. Access, with some of the fallen stones still in situ, is from the southeast. About halfway down the passage is a stop for a door with a latch for the door beam. In the south-west of the chamber a short aisle branches off to the right and leads to an unusually well-preserved staircase in the wall. In 1864 there were still eleven steps, some of…