Rousay, Bretta Ness

HY33SE 12 3972 3324.

(HY 3972 3324) Chapel (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1900).

A chapel formerly stood at this spot, on Bretta Ness, a small promontory on the E side of Loch of Wasbister. Its stones have been removed and placed on the margin of the loch.

Name Book 1880.

No trace.

Visited by OS (AA) 12 October 1972.

Exploratory excavations designed to investigate a site traditionally identified as that of a chapel have revealed that the peninsula on the E shore of Wasbister loch is largely man-made. A mound of occupation debris and structural remains, approximately 30 m diameter and 1.7m high, overlies a masonry platform set on a dumped mound of rubble stones, today underwater. Limited area excavation has been undertaken to establish the major stratigraphical relationships and to particularly concentrate on the later phases, represented by structures tentatively ascribed to the later ' Pictish' and medieval periods.

A single line of sizeable wall-footings, running EW and associated wi th a spread of building stone rubble and lime plaster could be seen as ecclesiastical in the absence of any medieval or later domestic refuse. At the W end of the mound, substatial curving drystone walls may be related to the primary use of the site. Secondary cellular buildings, apparently partially corbelled, were succeeded by structures of which only ephemeral traces remain due to severe and repeated robbing. One, however with flagged floor and walls faced into earlier rubble, survived in part to be re-used when a kiln was constructed (of orthostats, lined with clay). TL samples taken. Finds include Iron Age and 'Pictish' pottery iron slag, hipped bone pins, a variety of domestic objects of whalebone, small crucibles and mould fragment.

H Marwick 1984.

A preliminary study of Orkney crannogs was undertaken in 2004. The lochs of Stenness and Wasbister on Rousay were examined, where sites had been noted that had the appearance of having been artificially constructed. In the vicinity of the Loch of Stenness are numerous important archaeological sites including the Stenness standing stones, the Ring of Brodgar and a number of cairns. The sites to be examined were at the end of the loch furthest from these remains.

HY 397 333 Bretta Ness. A site on a peninsula on the E side of the loch was excavated in the past (HY33SE 12) and one of the excavators, Jackie Marwick, lives nearby. Aerial photographs show a feature in the water to the W of the site. The water around the promontory was snorkelled but there was no evidence that the site was artificially constructed or modified, and it looks as if the buildings uncovered during the excavation were constructed on natural material. Stones had slipped down into the water but there was not the same build-up that had been seen around the island, and they may have been naturally deposited. The feature noted on the aerial photograph deserves further examination, possibly earlier in the year when there is less weed cover in the loch.

N Dixon and B Forbes 2004.

A summary of the work carried out by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology in 2004 is included in The University of Edinburgh's 50th Annual Report, 2004.

N Dixon 2004