Description

The monument is a broch mound dating probably from the Iron Age (between around 600 BC and AD 400). The monument is visible as part of a substantial circular mound, with around two-thirds of the mound (the NW portion) surviving as upstanding remains today. To the SE the mound has been robbed of material, but the footings of the broch and related deposits are expected to survive as buried remains. The upstanding turf-covered mound measures approximately 50m NE-SW by 25m transversely and stands up to 1.5m high. An excavation in 1935 revealed a substantial wall and passageway. The upstanding part of the broch mound is located in an area of unimproved ground used for rough grazing, enclosed by a stone dyke that runs NE-SW across the monument and NW-SE along the edge of the mound. The buried remains of the SE part of the broch lie in a ploughed field. The broch mound is located on a SW-facing slope overlooking the Loch of Harray, at about 45m above sea level. The monument was first scheduled in 1937, 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 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 the stone dykes 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. Despite the disturbance to the SE portion, the broch mound has high potential to support future archaeological research. The mound contains the remains of a broch tower, which is highly likely to retain its structural characteristics to a marked degree. A substantial wall and passageway was recorded as being visible during an excavation in 1935 and the mound is expected to contain the remains of structural features typical of brochs, including scarcement ledges and intramural stairs and cells, together with buried deposits rich in occupation debris, artefacts and palaeoenvironmental evidence. The monument's importance is enhanced by its position in a landscape rich in archaeological remains overlooking the Loch of Harray and beyond to the important Neolithic remains of in the area. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our ability to appreciate and understand the development, use and function 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 HY32SW 17.

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

Armit, I 2005, 'Land-holding and inheritance in the Atlantic Scottish Iron Age', 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, 129-143.

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

Fraser, J 1923, 'Some antiquities in Harray Parish', Proc Orkney Antiq Soc 1, 33-4.

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 Ser 79.

Lawrence, D 2008, 'Midhouse, Birsay, Orkney (Birsay and Harray parish), watching brief', Discovery Excav Scot, 9, 128.

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, 16-17, no 19.

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/2257/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland