Description

The monument comprises a broch dating probably from the Iron Age (between around 600 BC and AD 400). It is visible as a substantial turf-covered mound, measuring approximately 48m N-S by 45m E-W, and standing up to 6m high. It is not known whether the mound is entirely artificial or partly natural. Limited excavations in 1936 revealed that the broch itself is approximately 18.3m in overall diameter, with walls 5m thick. A carved Pictish symbol stone was recovered from within the broch. Beneath the floor in the W half of the interior, an elaborate rock-cut underground chamber was discovered, lined with masonry and reached by a stone-built staircase. The chamber is reported to be about 3.2m long, 1.8m wide and 4m high, with a corbelled roof. Part of the interior of the broch is still exposed today, but not the chamber. The remains of an external defensive ditch and bank are visible on aerial photographs SW of the mound; these outworks were also recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map. The broch mound is located inland, on relatively level ground some 800m E of the Loch of Harray, at about 7m above sea level. It has extensive views in all directions but especially to the W over the Loch of Harray, SSW to the Broch of Gullow only 520m away, and SW towards another broch called Burrian, 2.4km distant, on the W shore of the Loch of Harray. The monument was first scheduled in 1937, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, measuring 100m in diameter, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's use and re-use is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of all post-and-wire fences to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, in particular of Iron Age society in Orkney and the function, use and development of brochs. This is an impressive and well-preserved broch mound in a rich archaeological landscape. By analogy with excavated brochs in Orkney, and as confirmed by the 1936 exploratory excavation, this monument retains its structural characteristics to a marked degree. The broch is likely to have a complex development sequence. It may overlie earlier remains and probably includes evidence for later re-use of the site, as indicated by the discovery of a Class 1 Pictish carved stone. Its importance is enhanced by the presence of defensive outworks, rare on Orcadian brochs, and because of its proximity to several other brochs in the Loch Harray area, with high potential to study the relationship between them. The monument is part of a landscape containing an exceptional concentration of important archaeological sites testifying to social and economic change over several millennia. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the development, use and reuse 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 HY31NW 2.

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: Parts I, II and III, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 163-165.

Lamb, R G, 1980, Iron Age Promontory Forts in the Northern Isles, Brit Archaeol Rep, Brit Ser79, 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, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 342.

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, 70-2, No.21.

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland