Archaeology Notes

Event ID 643159

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/643159

HY21NE 29 2964 1835.

(HY 2961 1834) Burrian Broch {NR}

OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1903).

Burrian broch, situated on the outer end of a low promontory on the east side of the Loch of Harray. Only a fragment of the inner wall face remains on the NE side, incorporating a mural cell and part of the north side of the east entrance. A more modern wall runs E-W across the centre of the broch.

At a distance of 8ft from the south side of the probable line of the outer wall face there is a curved piece of walling 20ft long and 2ft high which probably encircled the broch.

A row of boulders across the neck of the peninsula may be an outer defence or may be a later construction. Excavations by Farrer in 1866 revealed 'underground cupboards' partly beneath the floor of the central area of the broch (J Farrer 1870), and the finds, now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS), include many worked stones, stone lamps, circular discs, coarse pottery sherds a piece of iron and the bronze butt of a spear (A O Curle 1920).

RCAHMS 1946.

Burrian Broch, generally as described by the Commission.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RL) 14 May 1966.

An excavation is mentioned in 'The Orcadian' newspaper in 1866.