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Publication Account
Date 2002
Event ID 585547
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/585547
HY32 1 BURGAR (‘Broch of Burgar’, ‘Burgher’)
HY/352277
The only information about the size and structure of this probable broch on the coast in Evie and Rendall is from Thomas [2]. He gives the external diameter as 18.3 m (60 ft.) and its internal diameter as 10.4 m (34 ft.): the wall proportion would therefore be about 43.3%. At that time, he says, "upon one side the wall is still fourteen feet high, and is about five feet thick; the inner concentric wall is of the same thickness, and separated from the outer one by a distance of seven feet, the space between being formed into numerous chambers." [8, 60, fig. 3.10] The broch had already been explored. In 1825 one Peterkin dug into the mound and found a few relics, including a human skeleton with a long-handled bone comb beside it [3, fig. 119]), of which he sent the latter to the National Museum. About 15 years later the site was re-open by the proprietor Mr Gordon who is alleged to have found items of gold and silver. Unfortunately the description of these finds [4] is second hand, being derived from two "intelligent gentlemen" who had seen them. Gordon is reputed to have thrown the whole collection into the sea rather than surrender them to the Crown, for whom they had been claimed [6].
Recently further erosion of the broch exposed a polished bone pin and about 30 sherds of undecorated pottery [7].
The “treasure”: the metal and other objects were in a vessel found "in one of the cells in the thickness of the wall" [5], "a highly ornate silver vase or Beaker which would contain about half a gallon of liquid" and which "bulged out about the middle, the mouth and bottom being considerably narrower. Round the middle were projecting knobs and various ornamental figures or designs were stamped or incised upon its surface [4, 89].
The silver articles found with it probably imply a post-Iron Age deposit. The pot "was nearly filled with the following articles, viz. a great number of amber beads, from 3 to 4 inches in diameter down to the size of a pea, including many of the size of half-crowns; several silver combs of various sizes, some 6 inches long, with long teeth, the back or upper part being rounded and perforated with numerous holes; five or six silver pins, some silver buckles or fibulae, and several pieces of silver chains, consisting of three links interwoven, and resembling modern watch chains" [4, 89]. From the position of this hoard Petrie inferred that it had been deposited, together with a human skeleton, after the building had fallen into ruin.
Sources: 1. OS card HY 32 NE 27: 2. Thomas 1852. 122-3: 3. Wilson 1863, 2, 107: 4. Petrie 1890, 85 and 89: 5. Petrie 1927, 23: 6. RCAHMS 1946, 2, 74, no. 261: 7. B. Bell in Disc. and Excav. Scot. 1980, 24: 8. Hedges et al. 1987, 59-60.
E W MacKie 2002
