West Burra, Bruna Ness

HU33NE 8 3824 3670

See also HU43SE 43.

HU 3723 3671. The well defined remains of a Neolithic/Bronze Age horse-shoe shaped hut, measuring 7.5m wide by 9.3m long, on a small shelf in a SE facing hillside. Its walls stand to a height of 0.5m, and are 1.4m wide where both wall-faces can be seen. Several upright stones may represent the remains of cells or recesses, and two apparently flank a rather wide entrance in the SE side, which is straight and measures about 6.0m. The amorphous remains of a forecourt extend about 8.0m SE of the entrance. Some 40.0m to the S, are the remains of a probably associated enclosure, with a small pound in its W corner.

Visited by OS (AA), 15 May 1968.

See also HU33SE 43. Situated on flat ground on a raised shelf some 50m west of the shore. Though well sheltered and surrounded by good grazing land the nearest supply of fresh water is the stream c.70m to the south. The house, which is well preserved, is D or heel shaped in plan and measures c.11m east-west and c.10m north-south. The wall, which is best preserved on the east side, is c.2m wide and survives 0.5 to 0.7m high with inner and outer faces of earthfast stones being visible. On the east side the wall is straight for c.7m and in the centre of this stretch is an entrance c1m wide. The hollowed interior of the building measures 7 by 6m and the alignment of some stones suggests alcoves in the north west and south east corners. Two connected enclosures occupy the area between the coast and the craggy slopes on which the house stands, some 40m to the north west. The larger of the two is roughly square, measuring c.25m east-west and c.30m north-south and in its south western corner there is a small pound which measures c.10m east-west and c.7m north-south.

A second enclosure is attached to the shore side of the larger one and extends c.20m north of it; the overall dimensions are c.45m north-south and c.15m east-west. The construction of the walls of the enclosures varies, parts having inner and outer faces filled with rubble and others only surviving as banks of stones.

For a distance of c.180m to the north there is a complex of field walls at right angles to the coast which divide off small areas; within these are field clearance cairns.

J W Hedges 1984.