Broch Of Toab

HU31SE 44 c. 3891 1152

(Location cited as HU 389 115). Old Scatness/Jarlshof Environs Survey. The purpose of the field survey, now in its fourth year, is to enable us to better understand how the brochs and other Iron Age sites in the area (which included three blockhouses) related to one another, as well as to unfold the multi-period nature of the landscape.

The area surveyed in 1998 extended from the coast to the W of the village of Toab, eastwards along the northern shore of the Pool of Virkie. The area was used intensively for agriculture during the crofting period, and so a lot of the sites recorded were rig lines, boundary dykes, etc. There were also pockets of WWII remains along the W coast.

The most startling discovery of the summer was a new broch site, the Broch of Toab (HU 389 115). Geophysical and contour surveys have been carried out, confirming the initial interpretation made on the topographical evidence. This brings the number of broch sites within the survey area to four, the other three all being visible from the Broch of Toab, and provides important new evidence for our understanding of the area.

Further survey and an examination of sites relating to the post-medieval fishing industry is in progress, and a place-name survey to further unravel the history of the area (including the thorny problem of the meaning of ?Scatness?) began this summer and is continuing this winter, using documentary sources.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd, EC Objective 1, Robert Kiln Trust, Scottish Hydro-Electric plc, SNH, Shetland Amenity Trust, Shetland Enterprise Company, Shetland Islands Council, University of Bradford.

S J Dockrill, V E Turner and J M Bond 1998.

(Location indicated as HU c. 3891 1152). Scheduled as broch mound at Toab, north of the Knowe.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 17 January 2000.