Description

The monument comprises a tall, extensive, grass-covered mound on the northern shore of South Walls. The highest point of the mound is highly likely to represent the central area of a substantial broch and numerous, but ill-defined, surface features on the outer slopes of the mound may represent contemporary or later buildings. Such monuments are usually of Iron Age date. The height to which the monument survives is unusual and is interpreted as indicating that much of the original architecture may survive. At some later and presumably relatively recent date, two stone-lined boat noosts have been built into the north-western edge of the mound.

The monument comprises a broad lower terrace, varying in height from 6m to 7m OD, from which a much less extensive cone-shaped mound rises to a height of approximately 9m OD. The lower terrace is almost triangular on plan but has been truncated on its southern margin by the present road, along its northern margin by the present-day shore-line and along its western margin by the garden of the adjacent house. The cone-shaped mound lies within the eastern half of the lower terrace and close to the northern edge of the monument. Today, this mound is roughly circular on plan, with a diameter of approximately 15m at its base but, as it also bears clear evidence of substantial loss through coastal erosion on its northern arc, its surviving form may be happenstance.The summit of the mound is slightly depressed and some small exposures of coursed stonework are visible amongst dense vegetation. It is reasonable to interpret this feature as the remains of a substantial and extensive stone building or group of buildings. Previous visitors to the site have recorded exposures of midden material in the eroding shore-line. Two stone-lined noosts (boat stances) have been inserted into the mound on its north-eastern aspect. The lowest point in each noost is less than 0.5m above the present beach. It seems likely, therefore, that their construction and use relate to a fairly recent shoreline and these features are not contemporary with the most of the fabric of the mound. The monument was extensively quarried in 1812 to build the adjacent house. It was excavated in 1887 with the result that much of the interior was probably cleared out. The whole area of the monument is covered by rank grasses and herbs and appears to have been little grazed in recent years.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan with maximum dimensions of 100m WNW-ESE by 44m NE-SW, to include the mound and the boat noosts. The area is bounded on the SW by the mortared stone boundary wall which forms the property boundary to the adjacent modern dwelling, on the SE by the northern edge of the cutting of the B9047 and on the NE, N and NW by the junction of the southern edge of the shingle storm beach and the foot of the steep, almost vertical northern margin of the mound, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. Post-and-wire fencing has been erected along both the road cutting and the shore and is located, in both cases, along the upper edge of the truncated mound. The post and wire fencing and the mortared stone wall are excluded from scheduling to allow for their maintenance. The upper 30cm of the road-side verge is also excluded from scheduling to allow for its maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the remains of a substantial prehistoric building or buildings and associated midden sediments. Although coastal erosion, road construction, house building and archaeological excavation will all have removed or disturbed much of the structure of the stone buildings of the monument, the extensive area that remains retains a very considerable potential to provide important information about prehistoric, most probably Iron Age and later, settlement and economy.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

It is recorded by RCAHMS as ND39SW 1. The site is OR 1943 on the Orkney Sites and Monuments Record.

References:

Hedges J W 1987, BU, GURNESS AND THE BROCHS OF ORKNEY, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 165, Part III.

Lamb R G 1989, THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND, 29, HOY AND WAAS, ORKNEY ISLAND AREA, Edinburgh, RCAHMS.

MacKie E W 2002, THE ROUNDHOUSES, BROCHS AND WHEELHOUSES OF ATLANTIC SCOTLAND C. 700BC - AD 500: ARCHITECTURE AND MATERIAL CULTURE PART 1: ORKNEY AND SHETLAND ISLES. Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 342, Oxford

RCAHMS 1946, TWELFTH REPORT WITH AN INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND, 3V, Edinburgh, No. 1007, 339.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland