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Publication Account
Date 2002
Event ID 585277
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/585277
HY20 3 BRECKNESS (‘Broch of Breckness’)
HY/22470928
A probable broch in Stromness, sited on the edge of a low cliff only a few feet above high water mark; it is now almost completely destroyed by the sea, only a short arc of the wall remaining. The interior thus faces over the Sound towards the Head of Hoy.
The wall seems to have been just over 3.0 m thick [1]. A 19th century description gives the estimated external diameter as 20.7 m (68 ft.), internal at 13.4 m (44 ft.) and a measured wall thickness of 3.6 m (12 ft.) [3]. However because only a short chord of the wall is preserved there is some discrepancy between the various estimates [5, 91].
The broch was encircled by a strong outer wall, the ends of which still appear at the edge of the bank on either site of the broch. The site featured in a bizarre 19th century suggestion by Laing that the brochs were of Stone Age date, the erosion of the cliff under it being held to indicate great antiquity [2].
In 1995 traces of a large external settlement were noted on both sides of the broch, exposed in the eroding section [6]. The considerable potential for research of this site was revealed when both a well and the cross section of the broch ditch were located and excavated [7].
Sources: 1. OS card HY 20 NW 9: 2. Laing 1868, 63-5 and fig.: 3. Dryden 1890, 94: 4. RCAHMS 1946, 2, no. 920, 324: 5. Hedges et al. 1987, 89-91; 6. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1993, 105; 1996, 104: 7. Ballin Smith 2002, 166-74.
E W MacKie 2002
