HER:  Orkney Islands 3107 (None)
NMR:  HY 51 SW 4 (3107)
SM:  None
NGR:  HY 5450 1005
X:  354500  Y:  1010050  (OSGB36)
This coastal promontory is first noted as a fort by Raymond Lamb (1979, 20), though the western of two dashed circles shown here is annotated 'Graves' on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Orkney 1882, sheet 109.7) and it was also visited in 1964 by Keith Blood of the OS, who noted only two banks 0.5m high, which he believed were the remnants of a heavily-eroded building. Lamb gives no description of any defences as such, concentrating more on its spectacular natural scenery and the sea arches that have riven its flanks to create five legs supporting little more than a narrow spine. Nevertheless, he describes a series of circular and rectangular structures strung out beside the path along its crest, and there can be little doubt that these are the remains of either a promontory fort or a small monastic site. The surviving finger of land on its summit, however, measures no more than 35m in length by 6m in breadth (max 0.03 ha).
Citizen Science:  ✗
Reliability of Data:  Unconfirmed
Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed
X:  -310926  Y:  8175047  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.7931001820463406  Latitude:  58.97528513305777  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Orkney Islands
Historic County:  Orkney
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  St Andrews And Deerness
Heavily eroded promontory
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:  45.0m
N/A
In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences.
Reliability:  D - None
Pre 1200BC   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC   | ✗ |
800BC - 400BC   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800   | ✗ |
Post AD800   | ✗ |
Unknown   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort:   | None |
Post Hillfort:   | None |
RCAHMS hold Raymond Lambs photographs
1st Identified Map Depiction (1880):   | Annotated 'Graves' on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Orkney 1882, sheet 109.7; Name Book, Orkney, No.23, p 52) |
Other (1964):   | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
Other (1979):   | Description (Lamb 1979) |
Circular and rectangular structures set out along the spine of the promontory
None
None   | ✓ |
Spring   | ✗ |
Stream   | ✗ |
Pool   | ✗ |
Flush   | ✗ |
Well   | ✗ |
Other   | ✗ |
None
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   | ✗ |
None
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
0:   | None |
2:   | Not observed but across the neck on the W |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:  ✗
No description of the defences
Area 1:   | 0.03ha. |
Total:   | 0.03ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.
None
✗   | None |
✗   | The neck is on the WSW |
NE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SE Quadrant:   | 0 |
SW Quadrant:   | 0 |
NW Quadrant:   | 0 |
Total:   | 0 |
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 |
Lamb, R G (1979) 'The Brough (St Andrews and Deerness p). Promontory fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1979). 20
Name Book, Ordnance Survey Object Name Books (6 inch and 1/2500 scale); available https://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/
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