South Stany Fields
Clearance Cairn(S) (Prehistoric), Field System (Prehistoric), Planticrub(S) (Post Medieval), Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name South Stany Fields
Classification Clearance Cairn(S) (Prehistoric), Field System (Prehistoric), Planticrub(S) (Post Medieval), Settlement (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Voe Of Browland
Canmore ID 276
Site Number HU24NE 11
NGR HU 25965 49909
NGR Description Centred HU 260 496
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/276
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Walls And Sandness
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HU24NE 11 centred 260 498.
Centred HU 260 498, in the area from sea leval to 150ft OD above Voe of Browland, a settlement of 9 "Neolithic-Bronze Age" houses, "A" to "I", with entrances where apparent in the SE, 2 small enclosures "J" and "K", and a large associated field system.
A - Measures about 10.0m by about 8.0m. Both wall faces can be traced and several upright stones in the interior denote the remains of cells and recesses.
B - Circular, about 10.0m diameter
C - about 10.0m by about 8.0m
D - Remains are amorphous but appear to consist of a main "house" about 10.0m by about 8.0m, with two smaller annexes on the N.
E - Amorphous collection of stones, some earth fast, with apparent wall faces evident. Probably the indistinct remains of another house.
F - A large hut about 13.0m by 9.0m with a wall dividing it into two compartments. Immediately to the W are the amorphous remains of a small oval structure. Both are contained within an enclosure wall.
G - circular, about 7.0m diameter.
H - House about 9.5m by about 7.0m with a small annexe on the E, and overlaid by a modern wall.
I - about 7.5m by about 5.0m. The plantycrub at HU 2606 4986 probably overlies another.
J and K are small enclosures, about 6.0m diameter, at field wall corners.
The field system is denoted by extensive field walls and clearance heaps.
Visited by OS(RL) 17 June 1968
HU 2605 4985 The previously recorded 'sheep pen' is built over a probable house site aligned N/S with an entrance to the S. The inside rear bank of the house is marked by orthostats. The bank is 2.6m thick. The nearby 'ruined sheep pen' is an oval structure marked by orthostats and is not an obvious pen.
Sponsors: Leverhulme Trust, Shetland Amenity Trust, Universities of Sheffield and St Andrews.
K J Edwards and G Whittington 1997.
Field Visit (12 June 2010)
At least six circular or oval buildings of prehistoric date are situated within a probably contemporary field system which straddles and extends to either side of a broad stream gully that runs down a NE-facing slope towards the Voe of Browland. The hut-circles are described from W to E and reference is made to the original OS site descriptions written in 1968. The field-system is characterised by long lengths of stony bank, in places obscured by deep peat, some of which form small, irregularly-shaped fields, and discrete clusters of small clearance cairns.
The most westerly structure is an oval hut-circle (HU 25886 49921: OS ‘A’) measuring approximately 13m from NW to SE by 9m transversely over a grass-grown stone wall up to 1.5m in thickness and 0.5m in height. Two subrectangular compartments have been inserted into its interior.
The second structure (HU 25963 49908: OS ‘F’) lies 63m ESE of the first and stands within an irregularly-shaped enclosure measuring a maximum of 40m from ENE to WSW by 24m transversely within a stony bank. The structure comprises an oval mound of stones measuring 19.5m from E to W by 13m and up to 1m in height, which contains a circular compartment (10.5m in diameter) in its eastern part and a smaller compartment (about 6.5m in diameter and opening to the S) in its western part.
The third, fourth and fifth structures, all hut-circles, form a tight cluster 55m to the S of the second hut-circle. The most northerly of the cluster (HU 25951 49839: OS ‘B’) measures about 5.5m in diameter within a thick boulder-face wall up to 0.5m in height. There is a boulder-lined entrance on the SE. The next hut-circle (HU 25939 49823: OS ‘C’) stands immediately to the SW. It measures up to 7m in diameter within a thick boulder-faced stone wall up to 0.6m in height; the position of its entrance was not obvious on the date of visit. The third hut-circle (HU 25963 49824: OS ‘D’), which lies just 12m E of the last mentioned, is larger than the other two in the cluster and its interior has been dug into the natural slope to a depth of 0.6m on the N. The NW side of the hut-circle is overlain by stone-built oval structure.
What may be the remains of a small oval hut-circle (HU 26007 49851: OS ‘G’) stands 40m ENE of the cluster of three, in the angle formed by two stony banks. It measures about 5m in diameter within a wall reduced to a stony bank 2.5m in thickness and up to 0.5m in height.
The OS originally included within their group of nine hut-circles three further structures which are situated about 50m S of the cluster of three hut-circles. One of these (HU24NE 188: OS ‘H’) may well be the remains of an oval building, but another (HU24NE 139: OS ‘E’) appears to be the remains of a chambered cairn and the third (HU24NE 141: OS ‘I’) is an enclosure.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ARG) 12 June 2010.
