Description

The monument is a well-preserved broch mound and associated remains, dating probably from the Iron Age (between about 600 BC and AD 400). The broch is visible as a roughly circular, steep-sided, flat-topped, turf-covered mound, measuring approximately 15m in diameter and standing around 3m high. Where it meets the beach, a 1m high section of the external broch wall is visible intermittently over a distance of about 10m, though partly collapsed due to marine erosion. A stony platform extends around the W side of the mound. A later stone-walled enclosure lies immediately to the S, overlying the southern edge of the mound. A small part of the broch mound extends into the enclosure, and several low turf-covered banks and stony mounds are visible both within the enclosure and immediately outside it to the SE. These probably relate to outworks associated with the broch, but may also include broch period and later settlement remains. The broch is located on a low promontory on the S shore of Eynhallow Sound at around 6m above sea level. The monument was first scheduled in 1936, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment 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, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes all above-ground elements of post-and-wire fencing and drystone walling 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 construction, use and development of brochs. Apart from some marine erosion on its E side, the broch mound is in good condition. There is also evidence for possible outworks, ancillary structures and later buildings to the W and S of the broch mound. This site therefore offers considerable potential to preserve a complex development sequence. The monument's importance is enhanced by its association with the wider landscape and its inter-relationship with a number of other brochs on the N and S shores of Eynhallow Sound, including the famous brochs of Gurness and Mid Howe. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the construction, 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 HY42SW 9.

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, Soc Antiq Scot Monogr Ser 9.

Hedges, J 1987, Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney: Part III, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser , vol 165, 62.

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland