SC2820: Nybster |
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HER: Highland HER MHG1593
NMR: ND 36 SE 56 (9329)
SM: 569
NGR: ND 3702 6314
X: 337020 Y: 963140 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
The broch at Nybster stands on a precipitous promontory which is also defended by a stout wall with a ditch about 6m in breadth drawn in a gentle arc across its landward side. The broch and the external buildings around its foot were explored in 1895-6 by Sir Francis Tress Barry and reported by Joseph Anderson (1901, 139-42, fig 20), and have since been re-excavated in 2005 (Barber, Heald and Henderson 2005) and 2011 (AOC Archaeology Group 2011). The broch measures 7m in diameter within a wall 4.3m in thickness and has an entrance on the NE. The excavations in 2011 showed that the outer wall was constructed in at least two phases, which saw an earlier wall of relatively slight build subsequently modified, particularly around the entrance in its central sector, where it was increased to 4.5m in thickness to incorporate a mural chamber and provided with flights of steps on either side; the entrance passage has door checks. After the wall had fallen into disrepair, several cist-like structures were inserted into the rubble, though neither produced evidence of a burial. The interior, which is occupied by the broch and a multi-period complex of smaller external buildings, measures about 50m from E to W by about 33m transversely (0.15ha). Finds from the earlier excavations include seven bone awls and three bone combs, several stone discs and vessels, a sherd of Samian of 2nd century AD date, two possible crucibles and a mould fragment (Anderson 1901, 142; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 43 (1908-9), 14-15), while the more recent work has also recovered pottery, bone tools, a spiral finger ring and a Roman melon bead. Although the relationship between the broch and the outer defences have not been established, the presence of both saddle querns and rotary quernstones indicates that there was a relatively early occupation on this promontory.
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Unconfirmed: | Conventionally the outwork of a broch and falls below the 0.2ha threshold, though there is no stratigraphical or dating evidence to demonstrate that it is not the remains of an earlier promontory fort |
X: -343297 Y: 8084148 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.083885 Latitude: 58.551849 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Highland
Historic County: Caithness
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Wick
| Extant: | ✓ |
| Cropmark: | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed: | ✗ |
| Woodland: | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation: | ✗ |
| Parkland: | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing): | ✗ |
| Arable: | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken: | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland: | ✗ |
| Heath: | ✗ |
| Built-up: | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Contour Fort: | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort: | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort: | ✓ |
| Hillslope Fort: | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort: | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort: | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort: | ✗ |
| Hilltop: | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory: | ✓ |
| Inland Promontory: | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom: | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Ridge: | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp: | ✗ |
| Hillslope: | ✗ |
| Lowland: | ✗ |
| Spur: | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: ✗
| North: | ✗ |
| Northeast: | ✗ |
| East: | ✗ |
| Southeast: | ✗ |
| South: | ✗ |
| Southwest: | ✗ |
| West: | ✗ |
| Northwest: | ✗ |
| Level: | ✓ |
Altitude: 15.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
Some of the occupation is associated with Roman objects of 2nd century AD date.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✗ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✓ | Possible occupied by the broch |
| Artefactual: | Roman items from various contexts |
Named Brough Head on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1873, sheet 14), but not annotated as an antiquity. Both RCAHMS and Highland HER hold extensive collections of photographs, the former including the Tress Barry archive and photographs by Erskine Beveridge, and the latter the more recent AOC archive,
| Excavation (1895): | By Sir Francis Tress Barry and reported by Joseph Anderson (1901, 139-42, fig 20) |
| Excavation (1896): | By Sir Francis Tress Barry and reported by Joseph Anderson (1901, 139-42, fig 20; RCAHMS SC877283) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1905): | Annotated Brough on the 2nd edition OS 25-inch map (Caithness 1906, sheet 14.5) |
| Other (1910): | Description (RCAHMS 1911, 159-60, no.518, fig 42) |
| Other (1934): | Scheduled |
| Other (1963): | Description by Euan MacKie (2007, 477-9) |
| Other (1965): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1971): | Ground plan of the inner wall-face recorded by Euan MacKie (2007, 477-9) |
| Other (1971): | Visited and photographed by Raymond Lamb (1980, 75) |
| Other (1981): | Visited during the Caithnes Coastal Survey (Batey 1982) |
| Other (1982): | Revised at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1985): | Description and sketch-plan (Swanson 1988, 571-6, cited in MacKie 2007, 477-9) |
| Earthwork Survey (2004): | Survey prior to evaluation (Barber, Heald and Henderson 2004) |
| Excavation (2005): | Evaluation (Barber, Heald and Henderson 2005) |
| LiDAR Survey (2011): | Ground scan by AOC Archaeology Group (Heald, Cavers and Douglas 2011) |
| Excavation (2011): | AOC Archaeology Group 2011 |
Occupied by the broch and a multi-period complex of smaller external buildings
| None: | ✓ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
Broch and complex of other buildings
| No Known Features: | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
Complex external buildings
| No Known Excavation: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Geophysics: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
Finds from the earlier excavations include seven bone awls and three bone combs, several stone discs and vessels, a sherd of Samian of 2nd century AD date, two possible crucibles and a mould fragment (Anderson 1901, 142; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 43 (1908-9), 14-15), while the more recent work has also recovered pottery, bone tools, a spiral finger ring and a Roman melon bead. Also sherds picked up (Gourlay 1981)
| No Known Finds: | ✗ |
| Pottery: | ✓ |
| Metal: | ✓ |
| Metalworking: | ✓ |
| Human Bones: | ✗ |
| Animal Bones: | ✓ |
| Lithics: | ✓ |
| Environmental: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
Broch and complex external buildings
| APs Not Checked: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
See main summary
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 1 |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
| Entrance 1 (Southwest): | Simple Gap: | Door-checks |
Single wall probably with external ditch cutting off a promontory in front of the broch
| Enclosed Area 1: | 0.15ha. |
| Enclosed Area 2: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 3: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 4: | ✗ |
| Total Enclosed Area: | 0.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area: ✗
| Multi-period Enclosure System: | ✗ |
| Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit: | ✗ | Excludes the broch wall |
| Number of Ramparts: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✓ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✓ |
| Rubble: | ✗ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
Mural chamber
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✓ |
| Murus Duplex: | ✗ |
| Timber-framed: | ✗ |
| Timber-laced: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
| Gang Working: | ✗ |
Ditches: ✓
| Number of Ditches: | 1 |
| Annex: | ✗ |
Anderson, J (1901) 'Notices of nine Brochs along the Caithness coast from Keiss Bay to Skirza Head, excavated by Sir Francis Tress Barry, Bart., MP., of Keiss Castle, Caithness'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 35 (1900-1, 112-53)
Barber, Heald and Henderson, J, A and J (2004) 'Caithness Brochs Project (Wick parish), broch and settlement'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 5 (2004), 82
Barber, Heald and Henderson, J, A and J (2005) 'Nybster, Highland (Wick parish), Atlantic roundhouse and outbuildings'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 6 (2005), 91
Batey, C E (1982) Caithness coastal survey 1982: interim reports 1980-2, typescript Durham University (Available in RCAHMS ).
Gourlay, R B (1981) 'Brough Head, Nybster (Wick p) potsherds'. Disc Exc Scot (1981), 18
Heald, Cavers and Douglas, A, G and C (2011) 'Nybster Broch, Highland (Wick parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 119
Lamb, R G (1980) Iron Age promontory forts in the Northern Isles. Brit Archaeol Rep, British Ser 79. BAR: Oxford
MacKie, E W (2007) The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC-AD 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands, BAR British series 444(II), 444(1), 2 V. BAR: Oxford
RCAHMS (1911) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Third report and inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Caithness. HMSO, London
Swanson, C B (1988) A contribution to the understanding of brochs, Unpublished Ph D thesis. University of Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C2820
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31101468
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
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