Description

The monument is a broch dating probably from the Iron Age (between 600 BC and AD 400). The broch is visible as a substantial turf-covered mound, roughly oval in plan with a fairly flat summit, located on a larger platform. The central mound measures 25m N-S by 20m transversely and stands up to 1.75m high. There are traces of outworks in the form of a bank and possible ditch around part of the broch, especially to the NW. The mound is expected to contain the foundations of a broch tower similar to Burrian Broch some 600m to the NNE. The monument is located on a gentle SW-facing slope at about 20m above sea level, some 2km E of the Loch of Harray. It has good views, especially to the SW over the Loch of Harray. The monument was first scheduled in 1940, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include 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 that runs N-S across the centre of the monument and the above-ground elements of the post-and-wire fence that runs E-W along the S edge of the monument.

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 example of a broch mound in a rich archaeological landscape. By analogy with excavated brochs in Orkney, this monument is likely to retain its structural characteristics to a marked degree and may have a complex development sequence: as well as the broch and its outworks, there may be earlier remains and later settlement around the broch, as on comparable sites. The monument's importance is enhanced by its probable association with Burrian Broch, situated only 600m to the ENE, and several other brochs in the Loch Harray area. 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 HY31NW 32.

References

Ballin Smith, B (ed) 1994, Howe, Four Millennia of Orkney Prehistory, Edinburgh, Soc Antiq Scot Monogr Ser 9.

Hedges, J 1987, Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney: Parts I, II and III, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 163-165.

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 225.

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, 17, no 20.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland