Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Orkney Islands 2927 (None)
NMR: HY 50 NE 14 (2927)
SM: 4654
NGR: HY 5955 0873
X: 359550 Y: 1008730 (OSGB36)
The Brough of Deerness is a cliff-girt promontory that was once linked to the mainland on the SW by a narrow neck, though this has long since eroded into a deep cleft. Extending along the broad SW or landward flank of the promontory above this cleft there is a thick wall, which is generally considered to be the vallum monasterii or boundary work of the monastic site that occupies the summit area; excavation in 1878 revealed an outer stone face to an earthen core (Anderson 1881, 101-4), and there was probably an entrance opposite the eroded neck. The interior measures about 140m from NE to SW by 70m transversely (0.94ha), and is covered with traces of thirty or so rectangular and bow-side Norse buildings around the well-known stone chapel, which had itself replaced a timber predecessor (Morris and Emery 1986). This was latterly a noted place of pilgrimage (Macfarlane 1908, iii, 318; Wallace 1700, 69), but the possibility that the monastic site occupied an earlier fort was first suggested in 1774 by George Low (1879, 55-6), and the most recent campaign of excavations has shown that the visible Norse buildings overlie Pictish middens, while unstratified finds include a copper-alloy zoomorphic mount of Roman date (Barrett 2011).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -301123 Y: 8172597 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.7050296839679224 Latitude: 58.963939796006784 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Orkney Islands
Historic County: Orkney
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: St Andrews And Deerness
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 25.0m
N/A
An unstratified Roman artefact may indicate an earlier occupation
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✓ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✓ |
| Post AD800 | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | If there is a fortification here it is superseded by the monastic site |
| Artefactual: | None |
| C14: | None |
RCAHMS holds the archive for the excavations in the 1970s, along with an extensive photographic collection.
| Other (1774): | Noted by George Low (1879, 55-6) |
| Earthwork Survey (1868): | Sir Henry Dryden (1874; RCAHMS ORD 161/1, part of SAS 26) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1877): | Annotated 'Chapel (In Ruins)' on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Orkney 1882, sheet 110.5) |
| Excavation (1878): | By James Cursiter on behalf of Joseph Anderson (Anderson 1881, 101-4; RCAHMS 1946, 240-1, no. 621) |
| Earthwork Survey (1930): | Pan and description (RCAHMS 1946, ii, 240-1, no. 621, fig 328) |
| Other (1964): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1970): | Description by Raymond Lamb (1973, 93-4; 1980, 79) |
| Other (1974): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Excavation (1974): | Preliminary rubble clearance by DoE (Morris and Emery 1987, 304) |
| Excavation (1975): | On behalf of DoE (Morris and Emery 1986) |
| Excavation (1976): | On behalf of DoE (Morris and Emery 1986) |
| Earthwork Survey (1977): | On behalf of DoE (Morris and Emery 1986) |
| Other (1991): | Scheduled |
| Other (2003): | Re-Scheduled |
| Geophysical Survey (2006): | Orkney College (Moore 2006) |
| Excavation (2008): | Barrett and Slater 2008 |
| Excavation (2009): | Gerrard and Barrett 2009 |
| Earthwork Survey (2009): | Orkney College (Saunders 2009) |
| Excavation (2011): | Barrett 2011 |
Extensive remains of rectangular and bow-sided Norse buildings and a stone chapel
Sump or well lies S of the chapel
| None | ✗ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
Church and buildings. Also damage from more recent naval shelling.
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✓ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
Extensive assemblage of finds, but mainly of Norse date and later
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✓ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✓ |
| Animal Bones | ✓ |
| Lithics | ✓ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 2: | None |
| 2: | Mentioned by Raymond Lamb (1973, 94), and placed by the OS opposite the neck |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | None |
Single wall along the landward flank of a promontory
| Area 1: | 0.94ha. |
| Total: | 0.94ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
Anderson, J (1881) Scotland in early Christian times: the Rhind lectures in archaeology, 1879. Edinburgh
Barrett, J (2011) 'Brough of Deerness, Orkney (St Andrews and Deerness parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 139-40
Barrett and Slater, J and A (2008) 'Brough of Deerness, Orkney (St Andrews and Deerness parish), excavation'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 9 (2008), 134-5
Dryden, H (1874) Ruined Churches in Orkney and Shetland, 1867-74, (re-published collection of newspaper articles from The Orcadian)
Gerrard and Barrett, J and J (2009) 'Brough of Deerness, Orkney (St Andrews and Deerness parish), excavation and topographic survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 10 (2009), 138-9
Lamb, R G (1973) 'Coastal settlements of the north'. Scot Archaeol Forum 5 (1973), 76-98
Low, G (1879) A Tour through the Islands of Orkney and Schetland in 1774, in Anderson, J Kirkwall
Macfarlane, W (1906-8) Geographical collections relating to Scotland. (Mitchell, A and Clark, J T eds) 3v. Edinburgh
MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1896-7) 'The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century'. 3v Edinburgh (i, 101-5)
Moore, J (2006) 'Brough of Deerness, Orkney (St Andrews and Deerness parish), geophysical survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 7 (2006), 125
Morris and Emery, C D and N (1986) 'The chapel and enclosure on the Brough of Deerness, Orkney: survey and excavations, 1975-1977'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 116 (1986), 301-74
Saunders, M (2009) 'Brough of Deerness, Orkney (St Andrews and Deerness parish), topographic survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 10 (2009), 138
Wallace, J (1700) An Account of the Islands of Orkney, London
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1