57°59′14″N 3°54′43″W / 57.987215°N 3.912052°W
 Interior of Carn Liath | |
  Shown within Highland | |
| Location | Scottish Highlands |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 57°59′14″N 3°54′43″W / 57.987215°N 3.912052°W |
| Type | Broch |
| History | |
| Periods | Iron Age |
| Site notes | |
| Ownership | Historic Environment Scotland |
Càrn Liath (English: Grey Cairn)[1] is an Iron Age broch on the eastern shore of the Scottish Highlands, near Golspie, Sutherland.
The 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]
The 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]
The 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]
