Archaeology Notes

Event ID 861089

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/861089

HY44SE 3 4644 4473.

Hodgalee, a prominent, overgrown mound, overlooking the sea-shore, at HY 4644 4473. It evidently contains a structure of some sort, with a short length of curved walling suggesting the inner face of a broch, but it is so overgrown that accurate observation is difficult, and only excavation can prove the point.

RCAHMS 1946, visited 1935; Name Book 1879.

An overgrown, mutilated mound, still known locally as Hodgalee, generally as described by RCAMS. It measures approximately 24.0m ENE - WSW by 16.0m transversely and c.2.0m maximum height. Indeterminate traces of walling have been exposed by an excavation from the NE to the centre of the mound. For c.40.0m to the E of the mound and exposed in the shoreline are denuded remains of dry-stone structures typical of post-broch settlement.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(RL) 30 June 1970.

One body sherd, probably of early Iron Age origin, and a worked whalebone fragment were found in apparently basal deposits. Substantial settlement buildings are now visible in section for up to c.60-80m SE of the main mound. The remains of a broch and substantial surrounding settlement are almost certainly present. The finds were deposited in Tankerness House Museum (THM 1990.105).

D Lynn and B Bell 1990.