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Latitude: 58.964 / 58°57'50"N
Longitude: -2.7048 / 2°42'17"W
OS Eastings: 359563
OS Northings: 1008748
OS Grid: HY595087
Mapcode National: GBR M5P1.7M7
Mapcode Global: WH7C8.FY7H
Entry Name: Brough of Deerness, chapel and settlement
Scheduled Date: 21 March 1929
Last Amended: 29 October 2003
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM4654
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Ecclesiastical: chapel; Prehistoric domestic and defensive: settlement; Secular: settlement, includi
Location: St Andrews and Deerness
County: Orkney Islands
Electoral Ward: East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray
Traditional County: Orkney
The monument consists of the Brough of Deerness, and its immediate approaches and includes the boat noust near the south-eastern corner of Large Burra Geo, the spine of ground running from the mainland towards the Brough and the stack immediately to the south of the Brough. Included in the scheduling are the chapel and foundations of other buildings on the Brough and all else within and including the wall or bank which encircles the top of the Brough.
The area to be schedule is irregular in shape and is bounded except at its western and southern extremity by the Spring Mean High Water Mark; its southern edge runs due west from the southernmost point of Spring Mean High Water Mark in Little Burra Geo for 50m; its western side runs due north from this point to meet the Spring Mean High Water Mark in the south-eastern part of Large Burra Geo, all as depicted in red on the attached map.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because of its very considerable potential to inform an understanding of the early church and of Viking and Norse settlement and economy in northern Scotland.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS record the monument as HY50NE 14.
References:
Anderson J 1881, SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES: THE RHIND LECTURES IN ARCHAEOLOGY, 1879, 1st ser, Edinburgh, 101-4.
Barry G 1805, HISTORY OF THE ORKNEY ISLANDS, Edinburgh, 25, 439-40
Bateson J D 1990, 'Roman and medieval coins found in Scotland, to 1987', PROC SOC ANTIQ SCOT 119, 1989, 171.
Dryden H 1874, RUINED CHURCHES IN ORKNEY AND SHETLAND, 1867-74, (re-published collection of Orcadian newspaper articles).
Lamb R G 1974 'Coastal settlements of the north', Scott Archaeol Forum 5, 93-5.
Lamb R G 1980, IRON AGE PROMONTORY FORTS IN THE NORTHERN ISLES, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 79, Oxford, 68, 79.
Low G 1879, A TOUR THROUGH THE ISLANDS OF ORKNEY AND SCHETLAND IN 1774, in Anderson J ed., Kirkwall, 55-6.
MacGibbon D and Ross T 1896-7, THE ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND FROM THE EARLIEST CHRISTIAN TIMES TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 3v, Edinburgh, Vol. 1, 101-5.
Macfarlane W 1906-8, GEOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS RELATING TO SCOTLAND, in Mitchell Sir A and Clark J T eds., 3v, Edinburgh, Vol. 3, 318.
Morris C D 1975, 'Brough of Deerness', DISCOVERY EXCAV SCOT, 34.
Morris C 1976, 'Brough of Birsay (NGR HY239285) excavations and survey 1974: interim report', NORTHERN STUD 7.8, 33.
Morris C D 1976, 'Brough of Deerness' DISCOVERY EXCAV SCOT, 44-5.
Morris C D 1977, 'Mainland/Birsay; Brough of Deerness; Birsay; Brough of Birsay', DISCOVERY EXCAV SCOT, 26.
Morris C D 1977, 'The Brough of Deerness, Orkney: a new survey', ARCHAEOL ATLANTICA Vol. 2, 65-74.
Morris C D 1978, 'Excavations at Birsay, Orkney', UNIV DURHAM ARCHAEOL REP Vol. 1, 26-8.
Morris C 1985, 'Viking Orkney: a survey', in C Renfrew ed. 1985, THE PREHISTORY OF ORKNEY, Edinburgh, 237.
Morris C D and Emery N 1987, 'The chapel and enclosure on the Brough of Deerness, Orkney: survey and excavations, 1975-1977', PROC SOC ANTIQ SCOT 116, Fiche 2: A1-4: G7, 301-74.
Morris C 1991, 'The Viking and Early Settlement Archaeological Research Project', CURR ARCHAEOL 11.7, 299-300.
RCAHMS 1946, TWELFTH REPORT WITH AN INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND, 3v, Edinburgh, HMSO, 240-1, No. 621.
RCAHMS 1987, THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS OF SHAPINSAY, ST ANDREWS AND DEERNESS, ORKNEY ISLANDS AREA, The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series No. 27, 31, No. 153, Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Radford C A R 1962, 'Art and architecture; Celtic and Norse'. In Wainwright F T ed. 1962, THE NORTHERN ISLES, Edinburgh and London, 167.
Ritchie, A 1996, ORKNEY, in A Ritchie ed., Exploring Scotland's Heritage series, 16, 97, 116.
Ritchie J N G and Ritchie A 1981, SCOTLAND: ARCHAEOLOGY AND EARLY HISTORY, Ancient peoples and places series 99, London, 157.
Tudor J R 1883, THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLAND: THEIR PAST AND PRESENT STATE, London, 278-9.
Wallace J 1700, AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS OF ORKNEY, London, 69.
Webster L E and Cherry J 1976, 'Medieval Britain in 1975', MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOL 20, 175-6.
Webster L E and Cherry J 1977, 'Medieval Britain in 1976', MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOL 21, 218.
Webster L E and Cherry J 1978 'Medieval Britain in 1977', MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOL 22, 155.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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