Description

The monument consists of the remains of a prehistoric house, set on a shoulder of hill on the W side of Ness of Hillswick.

The house is oval on plan, 13m E-W by 11m over walls up to 0.4m high and 2.0m thick. There are slight traces of a small recess at the W end of the interior. The house has an entrance at the E end, which is slightly lower. Outside the entrance is a small yard, formed by earth banks about 1.1m thick and up to 0.9m high. This is rectangular, and measures about 5.5m by 6m.

The house is set in a slightly hidden location, but with good outlook across a wide area of land which is now rough grazing but has in the distant past, on the evidence of several walls appearing from beneath the peat, been divided for agricultural use. None of these fragmentary field walls is included in this scheduling.

The area to be scheduled is a square of side 50m, oriented N-S, with its SW corner 100m N of the summit of a small rocky knoll. This area includes the house, yard and an area around them in which evidence relating to their construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as a prehistoric house in a very marginal location, but one which has clearly been divided for early agriculture. It has the potential to provide evidence, accessible to excavation and analysis, about prehistoric domestic and agricultural economy, prehistoric architecture and material culture, and about contemporary environment and land-use.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HU 27 NE 15.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland