Archaeology Notes

Event ID 641512

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/641512

HP50SE 8 5682 0270

See also HP50SE 49.

(HP 5682 0273) Sna Brough (NR).

OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1900)

The remains of a broch, on a low-lying promontory, the lower levels of the main structure being largely buried under the grass-grown debris at its base. No precise measurements or details can, therefore, be given. The over-all diameter, however, must have been from 55' to 60'.

On the SE, one can still trace the inner and outer faces of the broch wall, which has been 14' 6" thick at some distance above floor-level. The entrance, from the NW, is filled with debris, but the heavy lintel lying apparently in situ, although at the present ground-level, indicates its position. There are no clear signs of the large hollow apartments, oblong, widest at each end, and following the curve of the wall (Rev G Low 1879) which were still visible in the 18th century.

On the south side the loch afforded adequate protection, but on the landward side there was a strong wall or rampart and a wet ditch, both of which curved across the broad neck of the promontory. The former is between 30' and 35' distant from the outer face of the broch, and still rises to a height of 6'6" from the inner margin of the ditch. It is continuous but for a gap of 4'2" between the broch entrance and the inner end of a cause- way, which was presumably once submerged in the wet ditch, but is today dry and much over-grown.

Between the outer wall and the broch there is some slight evidence of out-buildings but these are obscured by accumulated debris.

G Low 1879; RCAHMS 1946, visited 1930.

Sna Brough, generally as described by the RCAHMS. The corbelling of two chambers on either side of the entrance is visible. A low wall mostly obscured by tumble extends from one end of the outer rampart to the other, along the margin of the loch S of the broch tower.

Revised at 1/10,000.

Visited by OS (NKB) 5 May 1969.