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Ness Of Burwick
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Site Name Ness Of Burwick
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible)
Canmore ID 713
Site Number HU34SE 4
NGR HU 3881 4057
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/713
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Tingwall
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HU34SE 4 3881 4057.
(HU 3881 4056) Brough (OE) (Site of)
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed. (1903)
'There has certainly been a building of some sort on this island but it has been so completely destroyed that its diameter is no longer recognisable. Present appearances, however, are such as to suggest that the broch, if it ever existed, had been replaced by a later and much smaller structure now almost ruinous.
Nor is it at all certain that there has been a causeway connecting the island with the shore as is sometimes asserted, the stones are scattered and loose and may possibly have been thrown up by winter storms. There is a story that the structure, whatever it may have been, was plundered many years ago for building materials.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1933
No trace and no further information.
Visited by OS (RL) 4 May 1968
Publication Account (2002)
HU34 3 BURWICK ('Ness of Burwick')
HU/388406
Possible broch in Tingwall, on a small island opposite the township of Burwick. The remains of a building are apparent but it has been almost completely destroyed. No clear signs of a causeway were noted.
Sources: 1. OS card HU 34 SE 4: 2. 2. RCAHMS 1946, vol. 3, no. 1528, 125.
E W MacKie 2002
Field Visit (28 September 2015)
In concurrence with Canmore descriptions, there indeed was a large drystone building on the site, round in nature, but with what is left it is difficult to speculate its true nature though together with evidence of an internal cell NE and again SE, which may be the remains of an entrance, it does suggest Iron Age in origin. An estimation of size based on what is left is an original structure 10.5m in diameter though this too is difficult if the external walls have been robbed out which may be the case. If a broch originally enclosed what appears to be this secondary structure then it would have been quite small as it appears a max diameter of 20 metres buildable space on site measured from SE to NW, its shortest point. The drop to the sea floor on either side makes it questionable whether even during a period of lower sea levels the build space would support a structure of any great size. The causeway connecting it appears to be a natural tombolo but during the period of possible construction it was likely connected directly to the land, no evidence of a man-made causeway found.
Visited by Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk (SCHARP) 28 September 2015
