Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC2845 Mainland, Yesnaby, Broch of Borwick, Orkney (Yescanaby)

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

HER:  Orkney Islands 1660 (None)

NMR:  HY 21 NW 1 (1660)

SM:  1418

NGR:  HY 2241 1678

X:  322410  Y:  1016780  (OSGB36)

Summary

The Broch of Borwick is at first sight the stump of a relatively well-preserved broch standing spectacularly at the tip of a precipitous promontory, but it has not only suffered at the hands of an antiquarian excavator, and the cliff-faces are steadily receding on the N and SW where the wall is collapsing into the abyss. The broch measures about 8.2m in diameter within a wall between 3.5m and 4.6m in thickness and still presents up to 2.4m of neatly coursed outer face to either side of its checked entrance on the SE, which also has a guard chamber. There was evidently a settlement outside the broch, but it is difficult to make any sense of the remains visible today, and nor of any other defences barring access on the landward side. Nevertheless, in the account of his excavations, in which he dug down through a mound over 6m high, William Watt describes an outer wall cutting off the promontory that was 1.8m thick at the base and tapered upwards to about 1m at a height of 2.7m. Confusingly he asserts that this wall was 'founded in the moat' (Watt 1882, 447) 15m to 18m broad that he believed also traversed the approaches to the promontory, of which little coherent trace can now be seen. The enclosed area was roughly triangular, measuring perhaps 50m from NE to SW immediately to the rear of the wall by at least 40m transversely (0.11ha).

Status

Citizen Science:  

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed

Location

X:  -373308  Y:  8187109  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -3.3534811877037134  Latitude:  59.03108673891024  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Orkney Islands

Historic County:  Orkney

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Sandwick

Monument Condition

Heavy erosion now eating into the broch

Condition:
Extant  
Cropmark  
Likely Destroyed  

Land Use

None

Current Use:
Woodland  
Commercial Forestry Plantation  
Parkland  
Pasture (Grazing)  
Arable  
Scrub/Bracken  
Bare Outcrop  
Heather/Moorland  
Heath  
Built-up  
Coastal Grassland  
Other  

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort  
Partial Contour Fort  
Promontory Fort  
Hillslope Fort  
Level Terrain Fort  
Marsh Fort  
Multiple Enclosure Fort  

Topographic Position

Position:
Hilltop  
Coastal Promontory  
Inland Promontory  
Valley Bottom  
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop  
Ridge  
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp  
Hillslope  
Lowland  
Spur  

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North  
Northeast  
East  
Southeast  
South  
Southwest  
West  
Northwest  
Level  

Altitude:  25.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

No distinctive finds from the excavations

Reliability:  D - None

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC  
1200BC - 800BC  
800BC - 400BC  
400BC - AD50  
AD50 - AD400  
AD400 - AD 800  
Post AD800  
Unknown  

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

None

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1880):   Named in Gothic type on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Orkney 1882, sheet 100.2)
Excavation (1881):   by William Watt (1882)
Earthwork Survey (1928):   Plan and description (RCAHMS 1946, ii, 252-3, no.679, fig 347; RCAHMS ORD 10/1-2)
Other (1935):   Further fieldwork by RCAHMS (1946, 252-3, no.679)
Other (1966):   Visited by the OS
Other (1975):   Scheduled
Other (1983):   eroding midden and other remains observed (Lynn and Bell 1983)
Other (1985):   Description by Eaun MacKie (2002, 217)
Other (1987):   eroding midden and other remains observed (Lynn and Bell 1987)
Geophysical Survey (2011):   Of environs reveals extensive anthropogenic soils (Moore 2011)

Interior Features

The broch and other structures

Water Source

None

Source:
None  
Spring  
Stream  
Pool  
Flush  
Well  
Other  

Surface

Incoherent remains of multiple structures and the broch

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features  
Round Stone Structures  
Rectangular Stone Structures  
Curvilinear Platforms  
Other Roundhouse Evidence  
Pits  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  

Excavation

The broch and fragments of other structures, apparently including a lintelled passage

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Roads/Tracks  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  
Nothing Found  

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics  
Pits  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Roads/Tracks  
Quarry Hollows  
Other  
Nothing Found  

Finds

Assemblage includes: two long- handled bone combs; one composite, single-edged round-backed comb, 1 single-edged non-composite comb, one broken double-edged composite comb; one small whale vertebra cup; a socketed handle; three needles; a spindle whorl; a cetacean ivory toggle and a possible antler bridle cheek-piece. Stone objects include: some thin, round stone discs, probably pot lids; a polished gaming piece; a possible stone lamp; a perforated whetstone; hammerstones; Skaill knives and choppers; and querns. An iron rod was found and a single sherd of pottey. Ongoing erosion has led to the recovery of more pottery and midden (Now in Tankerness Museum; Lynn and Bell 1983; 1987)

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds  
Pottery  
Metal  
Metalworking  
Human Bones  
Animal Bones  
Lithics  
Environmental  
Other  

Aerial

NO APPARENT FEATURES

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked  
None  
Roundhouses  
Rectangular Structures  
Pits  
Postholes  
Roads/Tracks  
Other  

Entrances

None known

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
0:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   No entrance is known through the outer wall

Guard Chambers:  

Chevaux de Frise:  

Entrances:No related records

Enclosing Works

Single wall across a promontory, possibly accompanied by a ditch.

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.11ha.
Total:   0.11ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✗   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   0
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   0
NW Quadrant:   0
Total:   1

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  
Unknown  

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate  
Univallate  
Partial Bivallate  
Bivallate  
Partial Multivallate  
Multivallate  

Surface Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None  
Earthen Bank  
Stone Wall  
Rubble  
Wall-walk  
Evidence of Timber  
Vitrification  
Other Burning  
Palisade  
Counter Scarp Bank  
Berm  
Unfinished  
Other  

Excavated Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None  
Earthen Bank  
Stone Wall  
Murus Duplex  
Timber-framed  
Timber-laced  
Vitrification  
Other Burning  
Palisade  
Counter Scarp Bank  
Berm  
Unfinished  
No Known Excavation  
Other  

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✗   Ditch claimed but not wholy convincing

Number of Ditches:  None

Annex:
✗   None

References

Hedges, J W (1987c) Bu, Gurness and the brochs of Orkney, part 3: the brochs of Orkney, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British Series 165: Oxford (p 83-5)

Lamb, R G (1980) Iron Age promontory forts in the Northern Isles. Brit Archaeol Rep, British Ser 79. BAR: Oxford

Lynn and Bell, D and B (1983) 'Broch of Borwick (Sandwick p), broch'. Disc Exc Scot (1983), 19

Lynn and Bell, D and B (1987) 'Broch of Borwick (Sandwick parish), pottery and worked bone'. Disc Exc Scot (1987), 34

MacKie, E W (2002) The roundhouses, brochs and wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700BC - AD500: architecture and material culture Part 1 - The Orkney and Shetland Isles. BAR British Series 342: Oxford

Moore, J (2011) 'Yesnaby-Skaill Landscape Survey, Orkney (Sandwick parish), walkover and geophysical survey'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 12 (2011), 137

RCAHMS (1946) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v. HMSO: Edinburgh

Watt, W G T (1882) 'Notice of the broch known as Burwick or Borwick, in the township of Yescanabee and parish of Sandwick, Orkney'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 16 (1881-2), 442-50



Terms of Use

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


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