Clachtoll ( gd, Clach Toll) is a coastal fishing and crofting village situated on the Bay of Clachtoll, in the ancient parish of

Assynt Assynt ( gd, Asainn or ) is a sparsely populated area in the south-west of Sutherland, lying north of Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland. Assynt is known for its landscape and its remarkable mountains, which have led to the area, along with ...

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

county, in the

Highland Council area Highland ( gd, A' Ghàidhealtachd, ; sco, Hieland) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It share ...

on the north western edge of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is in the postal district of

Lairg Lairg ( gd, An Luirg, meaning "the shank/shin") is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scotland. It has a population of 891 and is at the south-eastern end of Loch Shin. Lairg is unusual in the northern Highlands in being a large settlement tha ...

, a larger village about inland. Its name derives from Gaelic, and refers to the very large broken rock, the remains of a natural arch (Gaelic: "clach" is "rock" and "toll" means "hole", "cavity", etc.) on the headland nearby. Between 2017 and 2020 archaeological excavation of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

broch A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. Origin ...

, a double walled tower standing by the sea shore with walls still standing up to 3 metres/10 feet high, although believed to have been originally much taller, revealed that it was probably built between 400 and 250 BC, and was burnt down between BC 50 and 25 AD .Current Archaeology 367, October 2020.

References

Populated places in Sutherland Natural arches of Scotland {{Highland-geo-stub