Knowe Of Gullow
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Knowe Of Gullow
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) 'The Castle'
Canmore ID 1999
Site Number HY31NW 1
NGR HY 3069 1629
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1999
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Birsay And Harray
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY31NW 1 3069 1629.
(HY 3069 1629) Knowe of Gullow (NR)
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1903).
In 1880 it was a green mound with an outcrop of masonry on the top.
Name Book 1880.
Knowe of Gullow, probable broch. This mound, approximate- le square, measures from 40 to 45 yards each way and is 12ft high. It conceals a stone structure of considerable size, evidenced by a few large stones projecting at irregular intervals from the thick coating of turf and long grass.
RCAHMS 1946.
Knowe of Gullow, also known locally as 'The Castle', is an irregular turf-covered mound measuring approximately 45.0m N-S by 32.0m transversely and 1.6m high, on a slight eminence at about 50ft OD. It cannot be positively identified as a broch as no walling is visible but its size, topographical position, local name, and the presence of a modern cairn of 'broch-like' stones on its top, suggest that it is probably a broch.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 2 June 1966.
Publication Account (2002)
HY31 12 KNOWE OF GULLOW ('The Castle')
HY/307163
Possible broch in Birsay and Harray consisting of a large mound on the edge of cultivated land, evidently covering a substantial stone structure.
Sources: 1. OS card HY 31 NW 1: 2. RCAHMS 1946, 2, no. 22, 18.
E W MacKie 2002
