Knowe Of Stenso
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Knowe Of Stenso
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Canmore ID 2161
Site Number HY32NE 11
NGR HY 36394 26747
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2161
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Evie And Rendall
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY32NE 11 36394 26747
(HY 3638 2675) Knowe of Stenso (NR)
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1900).
A broch of which no details are now ascertainable. The foundation- courses of the outer wall can be traced for about 20 ft on the north segment, indicating a wall-thickness of at least 12 ft. Traces of a gallery about 1 ft wide can be seen on the top of the mound and there are suggestions of extensive building on the south. A boring instrument of seal bone, 8 1/2 ins long, is in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS). (PSAS 1921 Donations).
RCAHMS 1946.
The Knowe of Stenso is a turf-covered broch, as described by the Commission, surviving to a height of 4.0m. There are no surveyable remains of the outbuildings.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 9 June 1967.
Aerial Photography (1971)
Oblique aerial photographs of the remains of a possible broch at Knowe of Stenso, Orkney, photographed by John Dewar in 1971.
Publication Account (2002)
HY32 4 KNOWE OF STENSO
HY/36382675
Probable broch in Evie and Rendall, on the edge of the rocky coast; the site has been much disturbed but a length of 6.1 m (20 ft.) of the foundation course of the inner and outer wall faces are traceable on the N, indicating a wall thickness of c. 3.6 m (12 ft.). There are traces of what may be a mural gallery c. 30 cm (1 ft.) wide at one point on the wall head, and there are suggestions of outbuildings on the south side. A bone borer was found at the site [3].
Sources: 1. OS card HY 32 NE 11: 2. RCAHMS 1946, 2, no. 263, 74-5: 3. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 55 (1920-21), 275: Hedges et al. 1987, 61.
E W MacKie 2002
