North Ronaldsay, Brae Of Stennabreck
Settlement (Iron Age)
Site Name North Ronaldsay, Brae Of Stennabreck
Classification Settlement (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Bridesness; Nesstun
Canmore ID 3690
Site Number HY75SE 4
NGR HY 77026 52625
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3690
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Cross And Burness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY75SE 4 7702 5262
(HY 7702 5262) Brae of Stennabreck (NR).
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1900).
The remains of an early dwelling, situated on the crest of a natural knoll and now in a very fragmentary condition, were excavated and planned in 1883 by Dr Wm Traill.
All the rooms were roughly paved and the walls were of great strength, but although the inner face of the outer wall was comparatively smooth, its outer surface was so roughly built as to suggest that it had been supported or backed by earth and turf.
A number of relics, including a key of whalebone for a tumbler lock, pieces of iron, cooking-pots of native clay, and whorls of stone and bone, were recovered and donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) in 1884.
W Traill 1885; RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928.
'Brae of Stennabreck' as described and planned, comprising structures of crude drystone walling of beach stones, surviving to a maximum height of 1.1m.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL) 21 July 1970.
Orkney Smr Note (July 1979)
Excavated 1883 by W Traill, a complex of small stone-built
chambers on the summit of a steep mound. [R1]
RCAMS summaries excavation report. [R2]
Structures of crude drystone walling of beach stones,
surviving to maximum height of 1.1m. OS visit Jul 70.
As described.
Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Jul 79.
Note (1980)
Brae of Stennabreck, North Ronaldsay HY 7702 5262 HY75SE 4
Complex of small stone chambers, excavated 1883, on summit of steep hillock, which is probably a settlement tell.
RCAHMS 1980
(Traill, W, 1885; RCAHMS 1946, ii, pp. 47-8, No. 194; OR 219)
Field Visit (1999)
A structure excavated here in the 1880's is described as containing several stone-floored chambers, a stout inner wall face and a probable earthen bank to the exterior. Artifacts found inside included a whalebone key, spindle whorls, coarse pottery and fragments of iron. The structure occupies a rise, some 40m in diameter and up to 3m high. This has previously been described both as a natural hillock and a settlement mound. Towards the top of the slope, short exposures reveal some stone amid deposits of blown sand, but it is not possible to determine much about the overall composition of the mound. The seaward side of the mound is retained by the Sheep Dyke. Ref.: Traill, W (1885) 'Notice of excavations at Stenabreck and Howmae in North Ronaldsay, Orkney', PSAS 19, 1884-5, 14-23; RCAHMS (1946), #194; RCAHMS (1980), #100.
Moore & Wilson 1999.
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, 1999
