Sanday, Styes Of Brough

Four mounds, of which three lie within the area under investigation by this survey, were previously identified as probable Viking burials due to chance finds of Viking-period artifacts (HY64SE26) said to have been made in the area. Recent assessment has indicated that the mounds are of prehistoric date, although a disturbed boat-shaped setting was found which may be part of a Viking burial setting. The southernmost mound (HY64SE18) is 30m in diameter. It is prominently located on a natural rise, has a conical shape and lies within 10m of the coast. The surface is pitted and stony. A low grass-covered bank runs off for some 10m from the east side of the mound. A second mound (HY64SW30,'B'), 10m in diameter and lies c.45m to the northeast. The surface is uneven and stony with what may be part of a structural feature. The third mound (HY64SW18, 'A') lies to the north, is oval in shape and measures 13m by 11m. It stands to 1m high and lies 18m from the sea. Ref.: Orkney Name Book, no.2, 73; Grieg, S (1940) 'Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland: part II' 171-2; RCAHMS (1946), #188; RCAHMS (1980), #132; Hunter, JR & Dockrill, SJ (1982) 'Some Norse Sites on Sanday, PSAS, 112, 570-76; Owen, O & Dalland, M 1999 'Scar: A Viking Boat Burial on Sanday, Orkney', Tuckwell Press/Historic Scotland, 14; Bond, Dockrill, Gibson & Owen forthcoming 'The Styes of Brough, Sanday, Orkney, re-examined for Channel 4's Time Team'.

Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, 1999

Carins: HY 6541 4213, a robbed cairn, survivies as a rim of

cairn material 14m diameter, 0.3m high, slab on edge in SE arc.

HY 6546 4216, prominently sited on a rise, survives as a

disturbed turf-covered mound 10m diameter, 0.3m high. Possibly

source of Viking sword. OS index HY 64 SE 30, OS visit Jul 70.

Ordnance Survey takes the name Styes of Brough to refer

only to HY 6547 4210 but it is not clear why this is so, as this

is one of a group of four mounds to which the name very likely

refers collectively. HY 6547 4210 is as described, very

irregular and probably heavily disturbed. In HY 6541 4213, the

edge-slab mentioned by OS is set radially to centre of mound and

is 2m in from the edge of the mound - quite a distinct edge - so

it is probably part of some internal structure. A circular

stone-lined hollow in the centre of HY 6546 4216 is probably a

kelp-burning pit. There is another cairn at HY 6540 4216, very

much reduced but surviving as a just perceptible rise with

several earthfast stones showing. The four mounds form an

approximate square. Vestiges of old field boundaries occur all

over Ness of Brough but none appears definitely associated with

these mounds. RGL Aug 79, inf Mr Towrie, Westbrough.

A Viking sword, a Viking axe and a Viking cauldron all

may have come from this site, Sties being given as the location

for the sword and cauldron, Brough for the axe, but the

provenances are not absolutely certain. The general appearance

of the mounds, the fact that they obviously have been dug into,

and their location on the property of Brough through the hands of

whose proprietor, W Dennison, the sword is known to have passed,

all support this provenance.

Information from Orkney SMR (RGL), OR 325, 326, 327.