Loch Of Clumly
Broch (Iron Age)
Site Name Loch Of Clumly
Classification Broch (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 1599
Site Number HY21NE 1
NGR HY 2517 1649
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1599
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Sandwick
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY21NE 1 2517 1649.
(HY 2517 1649) Brough {NR}
O.S.6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1903).
The site comprises the considerable remains of a probable broch with an overall diameter of 65ft. The remains are much destroyed and grass-grown, and confused by later building, so that details of the structure cannot be ascertained without excavation, but a short section of outer wall-face (typical broch-building) has been exposed on the NW and, within the thickness of the wall, there seems to have been a cell. " The overgrown line of the broch wall can also be traced on the south side, where there are other slight and very indefinite traces of structure at some distance beyond it."
RCAHMS 1946.
The turf-covered remains of a broch, situated on the only island in Loch of Clumly, 20.0m from the SW shore and connected to it by a marshy isthmus. They comprise a stony mound, approximately 21.0m in diameter and 2.0m high, with a stretch of about 12.0m of the SW segment of the broch outer wall-face visible, c.0.7m high. No trace could be found of the walling on the NW side of the broch. To the SW of the visible walling are vague traces of an outbuilding obscured by tumble. The cell, noted by RCAHMS, occurs just within the outer broch wall-face at its west end.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(NKB) 18 May 1966.
Publication Account (2002)
HY21 9 LOCH OF CLUMLY (‘Brough of Clumlie’, ‘Clumlie’, Clumly’ or Clumley’)
HY/25171649
Probable broch in Sandwick, sited at the NW edge of the loch on a low marshy promontory which may once have been an island. A stony mound contains the remains of the building, with an apparent overall diameter of 19.8 m (65 ft.), which are much destroyed and turf-grown. Traces of the outer face could be seen on the NW in 1928 [2]; this is no longer visible [1]. Traces of a possible intra-mural cell are visible on the W. There seem to have been excavations on the site some time before 1924 but no more information is available [3 26].
Sources: 1. OS card HY 21 NE 1 (with sketch plan): 2. RCAHMS 1946, 2, no. 678, 252: 3. Fraser 1924, 25: 4. Hedges et al. 1987, 87.
E W MacKie 2002
Field Visit (7 May 2013)
The remains of this broch stand on a low natural spit which projects from the W shore of the Loch of Clumly. They comprise a grass-grown stony mound measuring 19m in diameter and 2.5m in height, with traces of the outer wall-face visible on the S and SW – the result of an unrecorded excavation.
The summit of the mound has been much disturbed, but on the W there are traces of an intramural cell which measures 3.3m from NNW to SSE by 2.3m transversely and up to 0.6m in depth. The position of the entrance is not readily apparent but it probably lay on the S where there are some poor quality rubble-built structures which post-date the floruit of the broch.
The broch (or ‘Brough’) is shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map situated on a distinct islet surrounded by water (Orkney 1882, Sheet C); however, on the 2nd edition it is denoted within a band of marshland fringing the edge of the loch hereabouts (Orkney 1903, Sheet C).
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW) 7 May 2013.
