Description

The monument consists of the remains of a prehistoric house, somewhat altered by later rebuilding, in a small valley in deep peat to the N of Roer Water. The remains were revealed by peat clearance and limited excavation in 1902.

The monument, located at over 110m above sea-level on the barren moors of North Roe, consists of the ruined walls of a small house built of granite blocks. It is an irregular oval with two side-cells, one of which was lintelled. To the N of the remains is a cicular shelter, itself now ruined, built out of the remains of the prehistoric structure.

The entrance was on the SE side, facing the nearby loch, but has been overlain by a later shelter. There are slight traces of walls running under the edges of the surrounding peat, which may represent contemporary fields.

The area to be scheduled is irregular, bounded on the SW by the shore of the loch. It measures a maximum of 70m NE-SW by 45m, to include the house and an area around it in which traces of activities associated with its 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 an example of extremely marginal prehistoric settlement, which has the potential, through excavation and analysis, to provide important information about the nature and economic basis of life at the limits of prehistoric settlement.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HU 38 NW 3.

References:

Munro, R. and Abercromby, J (1904) Notes on primitive stone structures of the beehive type, discovered by R C Haldane, Esq., in the north of Shetland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, Vol. 38, 551-7.

RCAHMS (1946) Inventory of Orkney and Shetland, 92-3, No. 1356.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland