Note
Date 3 March 2016 - 1 June 2016
Event ID 1044100
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044100
The W headland at the mouth of the S end of the Sound of Mousa is best known for its broch, standing opposite the rather better preserved tower on the island of Mousa, but the headland itself is defended by two walls cutting across the neck that connects it at the NW corner to the mainland. The outer of these, now no more than 0.5m high, is surmounted by a modern arrangement of drystone walls designed to control the access of stock onto the promontory and also forming a narrow pen, and is positioned where the precipitous geos to N and S are no more than 28m apart. Behind it a second wall reduced largely to a grass-grown bank cuts across the neck, and the coastal erosion survey carried out in 1998, suggests there may be yet another parallel bank behind this (see SCAPE Burraland: 6571). The area cut off on the headland is extensive, measuring 250m from in overall length from NNW to SSE by up to 110m in breadth (2ha), but over half of this is now bare storm-washed rock dipping down southwards to the sea. Nevertheless, an area of at least 0.9ha has formerly been grass-grown, though the storm beach is actively advancing into this area from the SSE and the occupiable area may well have been in excess of 1ha. The broch, with its galleried walls still over 2.5m in height and an entrance on the W, stands on the W side of this area, adjacent to the top of the southern geo separating the headland from the mainland. Around it, however, are extensive remains of a surrounding settlement, with evidence of numerous circular, oval and sub-rectangular stone structures detectable in the general spread of rubble beneath the turf. While these structures probably relate to contemporary or subsequent occupation around the broch, there is no particular reason to assume that either the broch or its surrounding settlement are associated with the defences across the neck.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 01 June 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4188
