Archaeology Notes

Event ID 645434

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/645434

HY50NE 14 5955 0873

For comparable site, see HU16SE 2.

(HY 5960 0873) Brough (NAT)

Chapel (NR) (In Ruins)

OS 25" map, Orkney, 1st ed., (1881)

Brough (NR): Chapel (NR) (In Ruins)

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

There are the remains of a Celtic monastery on the Brough of Deerness, a headland cut off by the remains of a wall still standing to 2ft 6ins in height at the west end, and originally about 3ft thick.

The isolated area measures 142yds N-S and averages 80yds in breadth E-W. In the centre are the remains of the chapel about 17ft by 9ft 9ins, within walls about 4ft thick, now not more than 4ft 9ins high, within a rectangular enclosure, the wall-foundations of which are 3ft thick. (J Anderson 1881; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7).

The two circular huts on the edge of the west cliff and the cluster of 21 huts, about 10ft in diameter, at the SE corner, grouped round a possible rain-water catch-pit, are probably earlier than the chapel but the 19 rectangular buildings near the chapel, now showing as turf-covered foundations varying from about 12ft square to 39ft by 15ft are probably the domestic buildings of the monastery, coeval with the chapel.

There are the remains of an undatable building, showing as a low crescentic mound, at the SW corner of the site.

The place was a famous resort of pilgrims in the 16th (Macfarlane's Geographical Collections) and 17th (J Wallace 1700) centuries.

RCAHMS 1946, visited 1930; C A R Radford 1962

The site is generally as described above, but only the grass-covered footings of 17 circular depressions could be found. The two circular huts on the edge of the west cliff and the wall around the church could not be traced.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 20 August 1964

The wall barring the approach averages 3.5m thick and may be earlier than the monastery (i.e. the outer face well down the slope is of typical Iron Age architecture indicating a defensive structure rather than a "vallum monasterii"). No inner face is evident and there is too much turf to confirm Anderson's observation of "5ft of earth backing the outer face." The chapel and monastic settlement are mainly as described and planned by the RCAHMS, but several other buildings can be identified.

The plan of the enigmatic building in the SW is not clear but there are indications of other walls in its vicinity and it may form part of a gatehouse immediately behind the entrance through the main wall (now collapsed and visible as a hollow.)

The two 'huts' on the W cliff could not be located.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (ISS) 21 May 1973

HY 596 087 (Dept of Environment) Further work on the enclosure revealed the stone wall boundary with its entrance on the S side. Outside the chapel five further graves, in poor condition, were examined; four proved to be of babies. Eithin the stone chapel post-holes and slots in the natural clay indicated a timber phase probably preceding the stone chapel and associated with the remains of a stone wall on the S side of the chapel below the standing walls.

C D Morris 1976

HY 596 087. Four small post-holes and other features in the natural clay outside the E wall of the chapel were located. A small portion of the core of the S wall of the chapel was examined, but no further stones of the earlier S wall were located. A completely new ground-survey of the site was made. Some new structures, presumed rectangular buildings, and circular depressions were surveyed.

C D Morris 1977

This cliff-promontory some 25m in height is situated on the rugged coast S of Mull Head and is almost an islet, separated from the mainland by a chasm and now approached by a steep cliff-path; in antiquity, however, it was evidently more easily accessible across a rock-bridge. 'Jo Ben' in the sixteenth century and Low in 1774 give vivid accounts of the custom of pilgrimage to the chapel there, a custom which endured long after the Reformation. The chapel, a simple stone building within a small rectangular enclosure, is surrounded by the turf-covered foundations of some thirty rectangular buildings which occupy most of the area of the promontory, within a strong wall or 'vallum' which runs along the land-facing edge. Before its recent clearance by the Scottish Development Department (SDD), the thick turf and high grass made survey difficult; Dryden's plan of 1866 and Calder's of 1930 show significantly less detail than Morris's made in 1975.

Excavation by Morris within the chapel and its enclosure has provided evidence for an earlier timber-built chapel with a timber altar, as well as showing that the existing stone church had a stone altar. The Brough of Deerness has frequently been quoted as an example of a 'Celtic' eremetic monastry, but a diagnostic cluster of 'circular huts' in the SE corner, surrounding the well (which is an authentic feature) seem to be shell craters resulting from naval practice in 1914-18 (they appear on Calder's plan but not on Dryden's). The remainder of the buildings, including the church, are probably of Norse and later medieval date.

'Jo Ben', text in G Barry 1805; G Low 1879; J Anderson 1881; J R Tudor 1883; D and T MacGibbon and Ross 1896-7; RCAHMS 1946; C A R Radford 1962; C D Morris 1976; RCAHMS 1987.

The work of 1975-7 is in process of publication. A series of provisional interim reports has been produced in fascicule form by C D Morris and his collaborators under the Durham University Viking and Early Settlement Archaeological Research Project. The fascicules are held in the Orkney Archaeological Record and NMRS, but carry a qualification that they do not constitute a publication.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

An Anglo-Saxon penny of Eadgar (959-75) was found during excavation of the chapel and enclosure in 1975-6 (C D Morris and N Emery 1987). Also found were 24 17th-century copper coins.

J D Bateson 1990.

Scheduled with HY50NE 31 as Brough of Deerness, chapel and settlement.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 17 December 1991.

Scheduled as Brough of Deerness, chapel and settlement... a Viking and Late Norse settlement and associated chapel on the Brough of Deerness.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 29 October 2003.

The excavation of "huts and vallum" are described in 'The Orcadian' newspaper in 1867.

Watching brief HY 595 087 The construction of a new access path within the area of the Scheduled Ancient Monument (HY50NE 14) was observed in January 2005. The new route lay almost entirely over bare rock or modern material and no disturbance of archaeologically sensitive deposits was recorded.

Report lodged with Orkney SMR and NMRS.

Sponsor: Orkney Islands Council.

D Lawrence 2005

HY 595 087 The site sits on a cliff promontory, separated from the mainland by a 25m deep chasm, and includes the remains of a chapel within a rectangular enclosure, a possible monastic settlement to the N and a number of enigmatic circular depressions to the S of the chapel. The latter have variously been interpreted as prehistoric huts or the result of naval shelling. Excavation of the chapel in the 1970s identified two phases of construction. The stone structure visible today is unlikely to predate the 11th century and overlies an earlier, probably pre-Norse, timber chapel. Gradiometer and resistance survey were carried out in May 2006 over all areas of the Brough that could be safely accessed in order to determine the character and extent of the archaeological deposits. In particular, it was hoped that the survey might reveal further structures not visible as extant earthworks, and provide data to interpret the hut circles/shell craters. As was to be expected from such a rich archaeological site, the survey has located a large range and number of archaeological features. It has highlighted a considerable number of features beyond those extant earthworks identified by the surveys by the Royal Commission in 1930 and the survey conducted by Bettess in 1977. The combination of resistance and gradiometer survey has been particularly useful in highlighting the range of responses from the visible structures across the top of the Brough. The different anomaly types provide some evidence to suggest that a number of construction techniques have been employed, although whether this variation is related to the status, purpose or period of the construction of the buildings cannot be ascertained. The survey also revealed a number of anomalies that while appearing rectilinear and structural in nature do not correspond with extant earthworks. This would seem to indicate earlier structures on the Brough that have been at least partially levelled by subsequent occupation of the site. The survey has raised further questions surrounding the interpretation of the group of depressions concentrated around the well. The almost complete absence of magnetic responses from these depressions would seem to preclude the interpretation as either shell holes or prehistoric huts. The depressions appear to coincide with some slightly low resistance anomalies, but this may be the result of the shape of these features causing greater moisture retention.

Archive lodged with Orkney College Geophysics Unit.

Sponsor: Orkney College Geophysics Unit.

James Moore, 2006.