Description

The monument consists of the remains of a broch, an Iron Age fortified dwelling place. The broch survives as a large mound of grass-grown rubble, with a number of large boulders visible on its lower slopes, suggesting an overall diameter of 19m for the broch, which does not seem to have had any outbuildings. The broch stands on a small rocky knoll which would be an island but for two shingle beaches which link it to the shore.

Later stone buildings and wooden huts have been built in the shelter of the broch mound, to the W of it. The area to be scheduled consists of the broch mound and the outer end of the two shingle beaches, which may overlie archaeological remains. The scheduling specifically excludes the twentieth century sheds still in occasional use. The area to be scheduled is marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance not so much for the structure of the broch as visible but for the evidence which may lie buried below and around it relating to the effect of coastal change in Shetland (where there has been a substantial net rise in sea-level since human settlement) upon settlement and the availability of land for agriculture. Experience elsewhere, particularly in the Western Isles, has tended to suggest that rich archaeological deposits may be inundated but not destroyed in similar locations, and there is the real possibility of well-preserved archaeology below the shingle beaches which attach the visible mound to the shore.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HU25NE 5.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland