Dingy's Howe, Upper Sanday
Broch (Iron Age), Site (Neolithic), Ting (Viking)
Site Name Dingy's Howe, Upper Sanday
Classification Broch (Iron Age), Site (Neolithic), Ting (Viking)
Alternative Name(s) Dingieshowe
Canmore ID 3062
Site Number HY50SW 7
NGR HY 5476 0330
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3062
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish St Andrews And Deerness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY50SW 7 5476 0330.
(HY 5476 0330) Dingy's Howe (Brough (NR)
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1903).
The broch at Dingieshowe was excavated many years ago by Farrer and Petrie (J Farrer and G Petrie; J Anderson 1878) who reported that it had a wall thickness of 12ft and an internal diameter of 33ft. Today it appears as a large turf grown mound about 25ft in height. On the S a crude excavation of recent date has exposed a piece of ruinous stone-work, as well as a small kitchen-midden deposit from which several hammer stones and badly decayed fragements of pottery were recovered at the time of visit. The report of Farrer and Petrie states that a number of stone implements and several fragments of pottery were found. Petrie also records that 'on digging underneath the foundations...it was found that the whole of that part of the sandy knoll on which it was built had been subjected to the action of a strong fire and considerable quantities of burnt bones of large animals were found" (G Petrie Large notebook No.7).
RCAHMS 1946, visited 7 August 1929
On top of the sandy hillock known as Dingy's Howe there is the vague grass covered outline of this broch. It has been mutilated by several small excavation trenches one of which reveals part of a dry stone wall. Shell deposits can be discerned on the south and west slopes of the mound.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 22 August 1964
This 'thing-mound', thought from its name to have been a Norse district-assembly site, is a prominent but featueless grassy conical mound, measuring over 7m in height, among sand-dunes at the mainland end of the ayre leading to Deerness. Excavations by Petrie and Farrer in 1860 yielded many artefacts (Royal Museum of Scotland accession nos. 230-91, G 1-33) and revealed a broch tower 33ft (10m) in diameter within walls 12ft (3.6m) thick. Circumstantial evidence, including the late character of the finds, suggests that excavation stopped at a high level, and the height of the mound implies well-preserved broch walls. Probable outbuildings to the E were reported in 1798; what now appears as a possible bank and ditch on the N and NW sectors may only be due to sand-quarrying.
Statistical Account (OSA) 1798; The Orcadian 11 August 1860; RCAHMS 1946; RCAHMS 1987, visited June 1986.
Publication Account (2002)
HY50 4 DINGIESHOWE ('Dingishowe' or 'Dingy's Howe')
HY/54760330
This probable broch in St. Andrews and Deerness is a large, turf-grown mound which stands at the west end of the isthmus joining Deerness to the mainland; it was excavated in 1860 by Farrar and planned by Petrie [5] but no exposed features are visible now. The description of the excavation records that the walls were 3.6 m (12 ft.) thick, the internal diameter was 10.1 m (33 ft.) and the overall diameter 17.4 m (57 ft.). The walls proportion is thus about 42%.
Several fragments of hard pottery were found at the time of the excavations, of vessels which "had bulged out considerably in the middle and had a lip or rim round the mouth". Petrie also noted that there was evidence of fire on the sandy knoll on which the broch was built, and that many burnt bones of large animals were found [4]. Traces of a dry stone wall were noted on the mound in 1964 [1].
Finds: they include hammer-stones, a whet-stone, a fragment of polished antler and a number of mainly plain body sherds. There was also a fragment of Neolithic Grooved ware which belongs to a much earlier period [5]. A rectangular pebble whetstone is in the Hunterian Museum (B.1914.557).
Sources: 1. HY 50 SW 7: 2. Anderson 1878, 318 (site list only): 3. Petrie 1890, 88: 4. RCAHMS 1946, 2, no. 625, 242-3: 5. Hedges et al. 1987, 78-9: 6. Lamb 1987, 23.
E W MacKie 2002
Field Visit (10 May 2013)
This broch, which stands at the WSW end of a sandy tombola, has been reduced to a grass-grown mound measuring about 40m in diameter by about 7m in height. The centre of the mound has been excavated, leaving an oval depression measuring about 15m from NE to SW by 12m and 2m in depth. Other trenches are visible on the NW, SW and S flanks of the mound. The NE side of the mound has been exploited as a sand pit, creating an artificially steep profile. Of the ‘bank and ditch’ noted in 1986 (RCAHMS 1987, No. 103), a 10m length of bank (about 2m thick and 0.4m high) is visible along the NE part of the mound about 13m from its base. The large area of raised ground to the S, which now acts as a car park for the adjacent house to the W, probably incorporate spoil from dumping excavations of the broch.
Visited by RCAHMS (GFG) 10 May 2013.
Orkney Smr Note
called by the country people Dingy's how, or Duncans height; and between it and Deerness several hillocks of stones, seemingly ruins of buildings. OSA 1799, 205
Excavated by Petrie and Farrer 1860. Finds now in Nat.Mus include stone deer-horn and whalebone implements, double-edged bone comb with iron rivets, boars tusk, whorl, large quantity of pottery. The Orcadian 11 Aug 1860 (cutting in NMR Petrie collection ref SAS 397)
NMAS Catalogue, 1892
Dimensions reported on excavation as 33ft internal diameter, wall thickness 12ft; now appears as 25ft high mound. RCAMS 1946 ii 242, no 625. (visit Aug 1929)
OS reported vague grass-covered broch outline visible on top of hillock, mutilated by several small excavation trenches, one of which reveals part of a dry stone wall. Shell deposits visible on S and W slopes of mound. OS visit Aug 1964
Generally as described by OS. On the N side it is possible that an indistinct ridge concentric with the mound represents an outwork. The line of this is continued in NW sector by a sharp ditch with banks either side - a sand quarry. RGL 1979
A shallow trench along the isthmus adjacent and parallel to the road, avoiding Dingys Howie, was watched by Judith Robertson for Scottish and Southern. No archaeology observed at this end of the bay. Report in Orkney Sites and Monuments Record.
Information from Orkney SMR
