Crosskirk Broch

Crosskirk Broch stood on a promontory jutting into the Pentland Firth near Thurso in Caithness. A large circular stone tower, it was built inside an older fortification of rock and earth with a thick wall and gateway. The broch’s outer wall reached fifteen feet in thickness, and the site included guard cells and a stair entrance at ground level. Nearby stood St Mary’s Chapel, a ruined 13th-century building about thirty yards to the south. The broch mound once rose several metres above the surrounding land before coastal erosion began to wear it away. Excavations showed the broch was constructed around 200 BC and remained in use into the second century AD. Archaeologists found carinated pottery from the Iron Age, some of it similar to types in southern England, and later Roman pottery and glassware. A body was buried in a sitting position at the centre of a circular building when the site was abandoned, with no grave goods. Two long cist burials date from about 600 AD, and a runic stone once marked the ground before it was lost. Visitors today see a grassy mound where the broch once stood, with only low stone lines marking its edges. The cliff edge has retreated, exposing traces of the north wall and the shallow depression around the site. A low bank on the southwest side may be the remains of the outer defence wall. A memorial cairn marks the spot where the ruins were removed to prevent further collapse. The wind-swept headland offers wide views across the firth and along the northern coast.