Publication Account
Date 2002
Event ID 575307
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/575307
HP60 2 BALTA (‘Geo of the Brough’ or ‘Balta Isle Broch’)
HP/660090.
Probable broch on Balta Island, a rock stack off the shore of Unst. The stack has badly eroded, removing part of the outer face of the structure. A watch house, now ruined, has been built from the debris and part of the broch entrance can be seen inside it [2]. This is 3 ft. wide and 14 ft. 3 ins. long, the thickness of the wall. The central court has been 23 ins. 6 ins. across and a secondary wall 4 ft. thick has been built against it. The external diameter was measured at 15.3m in 1969 and the wall from 4.0m thick on the seaward side to 4.9m at the entrance; a curved wall was noted in the middle abutting against the secondary wall [1].
Sources: 1. OS card HP 60 NE 2: 2. RCAHMS 1946, vol. 3, no. 1596, 143 and fig. 600 (pl.).
E W MacKie 2002
