Burroughston Broch

Burroughston Broch
	Interior of Burroughston Broch
	Shown within Orkney Islands
Location	Shapinsay
Coordinates	59°04′25″N 2°48′11″W / 59.073501°N 2.80297°W
Type	Broch
History
Periods	Iron Age
Scheduled monument
Official name	Hillock of Burroughston,broch
Designated	15 December 1953
Reference no.	SM1421

59°04′25″N 2°48′11″W / 59.073501°N 2.80297°W / 59.073501; -2.80297

Burroughston Broch is an

drystone

walls are up to four metres thick in some parts and there is a complete chamber intact off the entrance passage. Some remains of stone fittings are evident in the interior.

Location

Burroughston Broch overlooks the

Linton Bay. The broch stands at the foot of a gently sloping field just above the low rocky shoreline.^[2] It is one of the best preserved brochs in Orkney.^[1]

Description

The walls of Burroughston Broch have an external diameter of around 18 metres, and an internal diameter of around 10 metres.[2] From the outside, the building appears as a grassy mound, and little of the outer wall is exposed.^[2]

The entrance passage is on the east side, and is about 4 metres long, 1.2 metres wide and 1.8 metres high.^[2] There is an elongated guard room opening from the left side of the passage.^[2] Inside the broch, the outer face of the upper gallery is still visible, and traces of an opening to the upper gallery are still apparent.^[2] A deep well is present in the broch floor: the upper part being dry stone masonry, the lower being cut into the rock.^[2]

In the sloping area in front of the broch entrance are traces of "out-buildings" now covered with turf.^[2] A wall, ditch and rampart, which probably once encircled the broch, are still evident around the structure.^[2]

Excavations

The broch was excavated around 1862 ("shortly after the discovery of

George Petrie.^[2] Petrie made notes on the structures while Sir Henry Dryden made a plan of them.^[2] Excavation was confined to the interior of the broch and to a small area immediately outside the entrance.^[2]

Little information is known about the finds. According to Petrie, they were mostly deer-horn fragments, many ox and sheep bones and "several rude stone vessels of different sizes", including a possible triangular lamp.[2]

Bibliography

C. Michael Hogan, California Arts and Sciences Institute casicalifornia.org (2007) Burroughston Broch Megalithic Portal https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7891
C. Michael Hogan, California Arts and Sciences Institute casicalifornia.org (2007) Hilloch of Burroughston, Broch Modern Antiquarian. https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/63606/images/hillock_of_burroughston.html
Spotting History (2023) Burroughston Broch, Orkney Islands https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/4576/burroughston-broch/

References

^
ISBN 1740595378
.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Historic Environment Scotland. "Shapinsay, Hillock Of Burroughston (3136)". Canmore. Retrieved 13 September 2014.

External links

Media related to Burroughston Broch at Wikimedia Commons
Historic Environment Scotland. "Hillock of Burroughston,broch (SM1421)".

[lp-1] 
ISBN 1740595378
.

[rcahms-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Historic Environment Scotland. "Shapinsay, Hillock Of Burroughston (3136)". Canmore. Retrieved 13 September 2014.

[2]

[1]

v t e Prehistoric Orkney
World Heritage Site	Maeshowe Ness of Brodgar Ring of Brodgar Skara Brae Stones of Stenness
Other Neolithic Sites	Barnhouse Settlement Blackhammer Chambered Cairn Castle Bloody Cuween Hill Dwarfie Stane Holm of Papa Westray Knap of Howar Knowe of Swandro Links of Noltland Midhowe Chambered Cairn Mor Stein Quoyness chambered cairn Rinyo Rousay Tomb of the Eagles Unstan Chambered Cairn Unstan ware Vinquoy chambered cairn Westray Wife Wideford Hill chambered cairn
Iron Age Sites	Brough of Birsay Broch of Borwick Broch of Burrian Broch of Gurness Burroughston Broch Midhowe Broch Mine Howe Tankerness