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Rousay, Westside, The Wirk

Hall (Medieval), Tower House (Medieval)

Site Name Rousay, Westside, The Wirk

Classification Hall (Medieval), Tower House (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Westness Castle

Canmore ID 2282

Site Number HY33SE 17

NGR HY 37385 30192

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2282

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Orkney Islands
  • Parish Rousay And Egilsay
  • Former Region Orkney Islands Area
  • Former District Orkney
  • Former County Orkney

Archaeology Notes (1972)

HY33SE 17.00 37385 30192

HY33SE 17.01 3738 3019 Architectural Fragments

(HY 3738 3019). The Wirk: A small stone tower with a stone-built hall on one side, suggestive of a multi-period dwelling of the 11th to 13th centuries and perhaps earlier. In the mid-12th century the land was held by Sigurd of Westness, who was probably the builder of The Wirk. (See also HY33SE 17.01)

Sources: D M Wilson and D G Hurst 1965; RCAHMS 1946. Visited 1929.

The Wirk: The remains of a small but strong stone tower with traces of other buildings and walls, as described by the RCAHMS.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (AA) 10 October 1972.

Activities

Field Visit (August 1979)

The Wirk HY 3737 3020 HY33SE 17

At the NE corner of St Mary's churchyard (HY33SE 16), there is the debris-choked shell of a well-constructed stone tower with footings of a large hall-like building adjoining it to E. Tower resembles Cubbie Row's Castle (HY42NW 5) and is referred to as a 'fortalice' in a document of 1556. Architectural fragments found apparently in association with this structure are puzzling (see Introduction p. 10). Dietrichson's comparison with detached defensible bell-towers of Scandinavian churches deserves serious consideration.

RCAHMS 1982, visited August 1979

(Dietrichson 1906, 108-9; Marwick 1924, 17; Clouston 1931, 27-33; RCAHMS 1946, ii, pp. 191-2, No. 550; Cruden 1960, 21; Medieval Archaeol, 8, 1964, 240; Lamb 1980, 94; OR 486)

Field Visit (June 2017)

The remains of a small tower and attached range known as the Wirk stand outside the NE corner of the burial ground at Swandro. The buildings were exposed by excavation in the early 20th century and the results were described and illustrated in some detail in 1931 (Storer Clouston 1931, 27-33) and again by RCAHMS who provided a clear architectural description (1946, 191-2, visited 1929). The site and associated architectural fragments were the subject of a detailed discussion by Raymond Lamb in 1982 (RCAHMS 1982, 9-12) and Chris Lowe in 1984 (1984c). The present project included a new survey of the surviving remains in plan and section and a photographic survey.

The date of the building is open to question but a combination of historical sources and architectural fragments found in the vicinity (HY33SE 17.01) seem to indicate a 16th century foundation (RCAHMS 1946, 192).

Visited by HES Survey and Recording (GFG, PJD), June 2017.

Project (September 2020)

HY 37407 30184 Geophysical survey was undertaken to the N, E and W of The Wirk (Canmore ID: 2282) in September 2020. The aim is to better understand the nature and date of this tower which has variously been interpreted as a 12th-century Norse Castle, a hall-house tower, a defensive church tower and a 16th-century tower and range. Previous excavations by J Storer Clouston in the 1920s cleared the stone tower and exposed a large range to the E, although phasing of the buildings remains unclear. The tower was left exposed but the area to the E was backfilled. A scale plan was made but recording and description of the built remains was minimal.

High-resolution magnetometer survey and targeted high-resolution earth resistance survey was undertaken across the site in order to characterise the buried structures, put the tower and hall in context and inform trench location. Clear anomalies were identified in both surveys at the site of the hall, with potential wall lines (high resistance) matching the main part of the building in Clouston’s plan to the E of the tower. This suggests that wall footings are likely to survive just below the ground surface. Other high resistance anomalies to the S of the hall could indicate the presence of additional structures. Results from the magnetometer survey showed strong positive and negative anomalies within the footprint of the hall and confirmed the presence of a possible enclosure to the S. A curvilinear positive anomaly to the NW of the tower, beyond the apron, could indicate the presence of another small enclosure.

Overall, the geophysical survey has demonstrated that the footings of the hall survive to the E of the tower, accompanied by newly discovered enclosures with possible structural elements to the S and NW of the hall tower. The extent of the site appears to extend beyond the extant remains with anomalies continuing into the kirkyard. Evaluation excavation will target the eastern hall in the next planned phase of work.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Castle Studies Trust

Sarah Jane Gibbon, Daniel Lee and Amanda Brend – Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA)

(Source: DES Volume 21)

Magnetometry (September 2020)

HY 37407 30184 Magnetometry survey.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Castle Studies Trust

Sarah Jane Gibbon, Daniel Lee and Amanda Brend – Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA)

(Source: DES Volume 21)

Resistivity (September 2020)

HY 37407 30184 Resisitivity survey.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Castle Studies Trust

Sarah Jane Gibbon, Daniel Lee and Amanda Brend – Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA)

(Source: DES Volume 21)

Archaeological Evaluation (5 July 2021 - 16 July 2021)

HY 37407 30184 The site was partly excavated in the 1920s by

J. Storer Clouston and later reported in the Inventory of Orkney (RCAHMS 1946). The date and phasing of the site is still open to debate. Two small targeted evaluation trenches, determined by previous geophysical survey (DES Volume 21, 96) were opened over Clouston’s previous excavations exposing substantial walls in the eastern hall. The walling was found to correspond directly to that planned by Clouston. Previously undisturbed levelling layers within the building were excavated. These contained little cultural material and comprised redeposited glacial till from which bulk samples were obtained. Finely moulded fragments of red sandstone, some stylistically dated to the 13th century, exposed in the rubble backfill of Clouston’s previous excavation are likely to have come from a former medieval church adjacent to The Wirk. Excavations confirmed Clouston’s plan to be accurate. Environmental samples will be processed for datable material.

Archive: UHI Archaeology Institute; NRHE (intended)

Funder: Castle Studies Trust

Sarah Jane Gibbon and Daniel Lee – Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), UHI Archaeology Institute

(Source: DES Vol 22)

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