Hamnavoe

RCAHMS surveyed the broch at Loch of Hamnavoe on 2 August 1935 by plane-table and alidade. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced size (RCAHMS 1946, fig. 602).

Broch, Hamnavoe.

Although very little of the original structure survives, this broch is interesting on account of its position and of the protective works which surrounded it. The remains of the masonry are concealed in a grass-covered knoll, which is situated about 150 yds. E. of the hamlet of Hamnavoe. The mound is not near the shore, nor even within sight of it, but is placed on the edge of a gully running N. and S. and carrying a small stream southwards into the Voe. On the E. side the drop into the little valley is very steep, and along the crest of the slope there has been a wall or a revetted rampart, much of which has now slipped down the incline into the valley below. At the S. end the line of this returns sharply westwards, and then disappears, while at its N. extremity it meets at right angles a mound, about 45 ft. long and 5 ft. high, running along the inner edge of a deep and broad ditch of which it is probably the upcast. On the N. and W. is a rampart built of earth and stones which forms the outstanding feature of the site. Some 7 or 8 ft. high * and well over 200 ft. long, it runs concentrically with the broch at a distance of about 60 ft. On the N. it ends abruptly at the natural escarpment of the valley, but at the S. end it now falls away whatever it may have done originally-into a ridge 2 ft. high, which dies out at surface level after being interrupted by some heights and hollows. Other irregularities seem to indicate that it continued until it met the return end of the wall along the valley escarpment. The great ditch, which has been converted into a cabbage patch, is deepest at its N. end, measuring here from 35 to 40 ft. between the crest of the outer rampart and that of the mound. It becomes gradually shallower as it encircles the broch, and runs out to ground-level at its S. end, the mound falling away, as already indicated, about 45 ft. from the crest of the valley's slope.

The remains of the tower itself are exposed on the surface at three points, two of which lie diametrically opposite one another on the N. W. and S.E. arcs respectively. At these two points the outer face of the wall is recognisable, and it is possible to estimate the original external diameter of the broch as approximately 62 ft. An inner wall-face is also laid bare on the NE. arc, probably representing part of the interior. of a cell constructed in the thickness of the wall.

RCAHMS 1946, visited 2 August 1935

*Both this height and the height of the mound previously given are measured from the bottom of the ditch.

HU28 1 HAMNAVOE

HU/239806

This probable broch in Northmavine has outworks and stands on the edge of the steep slope of a gully to the east; little of the structure now survives and the site is a grass-covered knoll. The outer wall face can be seen at three points, giving an overall diameter of about 62 ft.; the probable inner face of a mural cell is visible on the north-east arc. An outer defence, either a wall or a bank, runs along the crest of the slope above the gully. On the shallow approach on the opposite, west side a more massive defence exists, consisting of an earth and stone rampart with a ditch inside it: the rampart stands 7-8 ft. from the base of the ditch which is deepest at the northern end.

Sources: 1. OS card HU 28 SW 2; 2. RCAHMS 1946, vol. 3, no. 1353 and fig. 602, 90-1.

NMR photographs: 1 P.

E W MacKie 2002