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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016324
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016324
This is one of the most spectacularly located monuments in Orkney, for it occupies the flat top of a large detached rock stack off a coast of precipitous cliffs. Inherent in its location is danger for the unwary visitor, although the character of the site can be appreciated from the adjacent mainland without crossing on to the stack itself. When the various structures were built and in regular use, it is likely that the Brough was accessible along a narrow neck of land, perhaps even at groundlevel, but now that land bridge has eroded away and the path leading up on to the Brough starts virtually on the beach.
A bank runs along the landward side of the Brough, with an entrance towards the south-west corner opposite the adjacent promontory. Such an attempt to control access to the site seems unnecessary today, but, if the Brough was connected to the mainland by a land-bridge, it would have been essential. The major upstanding feature is the chapel within its square enclosure, which was the focus for pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages and as late as the mid 19th century, although its dedication is unknown. Its visibility from the mainland made it a convenient target for gun practice in the Second World War, resulting in the shell-holes that now pit the area between the bank and the chapel.
To the west and north of the chapel are many grassgrown foundations of rectangular buildings, most of which fall into two rows on either side of a 'street' along the west side of the Brough. These have been the subject of scholarly debate for many years: are they the remains of a monastery or are they simply domestic houses of the Norse or later period? Most prefer the latter interpretation, viewing the site as comparable to the settlement on the Brough of Birsay (no. 49). Only the chapel has been excavated, revealing not only that the existing chapel is probably Norse in date but also that it replaced an earlier version built in timber and stone, thought also to be Norse. It is thus likely that, whatever its status, this stack site was contemporary with the Norse farm at Skaill (see under no. 47).
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
