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Bay Of Garth

Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Fort (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Bay Of Garth

Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Fort (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) Ness; Collaster; Ness Of Garth

Canmore ID 379

Site Number HU25NW 2

NGR HU 2165 5822

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/379

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Shetland Islands
  • Parish Walls And Sandness
  • Former Region Shetland Islands Area
  • Former District Shetland
  • Former County Shetland

Archaeology Notes

HU25NW 2 2165 5822.

(HU 2164 5822) Brough (NR)

OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1903).

Not a broch, but a promontory fort, now a tidal islet separated from the shore by a 60' to 70' gap covered at high tides. There is a V-shaped wall on the landward and west sides, 153 paces long. The 28 paces next to the land are straight walling of broch nature, at least 9' thick. A parallel wall, 18' down the slope, is 32' long and 5' high above the debris. A third line of foundation stones remains 15' in front and is 14 paces long.

J Stewart 1956; RCAHMS 1946.

The remains of a promontory fort generally as described by Stewart. Within the fort, at the SW corner, are the turf-covered foundations of at least three structures, one sub-rectangular, two oval, partially eroded by the sea, and traces of others. A turf-covered stony bank, 8.0m long cuts off the extreme tip of the promontory. The facing stones of three massive retaining ramparts are visible, cutting off the promotory from the mainland in the S, and the remains of another less substantial wall run along the top of the slope above them, into which the sub-rectangular structure abuts.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 15 June 1968.

Survey Diagram.

Scheduled as Ness, promontory fort, Bay of Garth.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 22 January 1993.

Activities

Field Visit (15 June 1968)

The remains of a promontory fort generally as described by Stewart. Within the fort, at the SW corner, are the turf-covered foundations of at least three structures, one sub-rectangular, two oval, partially eroded by the sea, and traces of others. A turf-covered stony bank, 8.0m long cuts off the extreme tip of the promontory. The facing stones of three massive retaining ramparts are visible, cutting off the promotory from the mainland in the S, and the remains of another less substantial wall run along the top of the slope above them, into which the sub-rectangular structure abuts.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 15 June 1968.

Publication Account (2002)

HU25 1 BAY OF GARTH

HU/216582

Possible broch in Walls and Sandness; no further information.

E W MacKie 2002

Note (1 March 2016 - 18 May 2016)

This fort occupies an eroded promontory on the N coast of the Walls peninsular, forming the tip of the headland on the E side of the Bay of Garth and now separated from the mainland by a storm beach. The promontory forms a V-shape on plan with a deep cleft eroded into it from the N, and while the W arm tapers northwards from the S apex of the summit area into a narrow finger 125m in overall length by 13m in maximum breadth, the respective measurements of the E arm are 85m and 17m, giving an overall area for the interior of 0.22ha. The defences comprise a thick inner stone wall extending along the lip of the E arm for about 30m and facing SE towards the adjacent land, but at its SW end, where the slope up onto the promontory was most accessible, this has been supplemented with two short lengths of outer ramparts, both of which are reduced to terraces with stone faces visible along their leading edges. The position of the entrance is uncertain, probably mounting the slope below the inner wall to the NE of the outer ramparts. Behind the inner wall on the W side of the interior Raymond Lamb noted the footings of three circular buildings about 3m in internal diameter and two sub-rectangular ones 6m in internal length, though one of these was already eroding over the edge of the cliff on the W. In addition a minor turf bank crosses the W arm of the promontory, where there is also a small square turf structure.

Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC4178

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