Description

The monument is a broch mound dating probably from the Iron Age (between about 600 BC and AD 400). It is visible as a large turf-covered mound with some protruding masonry. The broch mound would originally have been circular in plan, but it has suffered some coastal erosion along its W side and is now amorphous in shape. The surviving mound measures approximately 25m N-S by 18m E-W and stands up to 1.75m high. The outer wall-face of the broch tower is partly visible on the S side, standing some six courses high. Traces of a possible defensive ditch and bank are visible to the NE of the mound. The uneven ground around the broch mound may indicate the presence of a 'broch village' or later Iron Age buildings around the broch tower. The broch mound is located on the coast, on relatively level, unimproved ground. It has extensive views in all directions and was well-placed to control access from the Bay of Ireland to the Loch of Stenness. The monument was first scheduled in 1956, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan and includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction and use is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of the post-and-wire fence erected to protect the site, and the remains of a circular planticrub, 5m in diameter.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the past, in particular of Iron Age society in Orkney and the function, use and development of brochs. Although part of the site has been lost to the sea, the remaining mound appears relatively undisturbed. Within the mound, the broch is likely to retain its structural characteristics to a marked degree and may preserve a complex development sequence. There is high potential for the survival of buried archaeological deposits containing occupation debris, artefacts and palaeoenvironmental evidence that can tell us about how people lived, their trade and exchange contacts and their social status. The importance of the site is enhanced by the possible presence of a broch village or post-broch settlement around the tower, and by its association with the wider landscape of Iron Age brochs and prehistoric settlement on this part of the Orkney coast. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the development, use and re-use of brochs and the nature of Iron Age society, economy and social hierarchy in Orkney and further afield.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the site as HY21SE 17.

References

Armit, I 2003, Towers of the North: The Brochs of Scotland. Tempus.

Ballin Smith, B (ed.) 1994, Howe, four millennia of Orkney Prehistory, Edinburgh, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series 9.

Ballin Smith, B 2005, 'Orcadian Brochs ' Complex Settlements with Complex Origins'. In Turner, V E, Dockrill, S J, Nicholson, R A and Bond, J M (eds) 2005, Tall Stories?: Two millennia of brochs, Shetland Amenity Trust: Lerwick, 66-77.

Hedges, J 1987, Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney: part I Bu, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British Ser 163, Oxford.

Hedges, J 1987, Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney: part II Gurness, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British Ser 164, Oxford.

Hedges, J 1987, Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney: part III: The Brochs of Orkney, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British Ser 165, Oxford.

Lamb, R G, 1980, Iron Age Promontory Forts in the Northern Isles, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British Ser 79, Oxford, 81.

Mackie, E W 2002, The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700 BC ' AD 500: Architecture and Material Culture, Part 1: The Orkney and Shetland Isles. BAR British Ser 342, Oxford.

RCAHMS, 1946 The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 298, no. 872.

Ritchie, J N G 1988, The Brochs of Scotland. Aylesbury: Shire.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland