Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Shetland Amenity Trust 126 (None)
NMR: HP 50 SE 19 (38)
SM: None
NGR: HP 5583 0423
X: 455832 Y: 1204234 (OSGB36)
The Blue Mull lies at the N end of the sound separating the islands of Unst and Yell, forming the large headland on the E side of its mouth. The headland rises out of a gully formed along a geological faultline lying obliquely N and S across its neck, creating a natural enclosure which expands NNW from a sharp angle where the gully cuts through to the coastal cliffs on the W. Here the footings of a cluster of seven sub-rectangular buildings are visible, while the remains of a bank or wall can be traced along the lip of the gully for a distance of 280m, cutting off an area measuring some 350m in length by up to 325m in breadth on the NNW above the rocky coastal edge (8.2ha). While the cluster of buildings has been interpreted as a probable Norse monastic site (Lamb 1973, 78, 84, 85; 1976, 145, 152), most investigators have considered the enclosure to be a more recent agricultural dyke (RCAHMS 1946, 140, no.1576), though this has yet to be demonstrated by excavation, or indeed whether an earlier perimeter lies beneath the visible bank. There is certainly evidence of later activity on the headland, demonstrated by the old lime kiln marked on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map at the seaward end (HP 5577 0464; Shetland 1882, sheet 5), the traces of peat cuttings all over its raised central spine, and perhaps including the track that ascends the W side of the gully about 100m from the S tip of the enclosure bank. The only other features noted within the interior are two low mounds observed in 1930 by RCAHMS investigators, though in 1969 the OS surveyor was unable to locate them.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Unconfirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -108933 Y: 8561239 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -0.9785630649559269 Latitude: 60.71747792789812 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Shetland Islands
Historic County: Shetland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Unst
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: 68.0m
N/A
Probable Norse buildings imply an early medieval occupation
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 |
| Morphology/Earthwork/Typology: | Norse Buildings |
None
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1774): | Noted by George Low (1879, 157) |
| Other (1822): | Noted by Samuel Hibbert (1822, 398) |
| Other (1930): | Description (RCAHMS 1946, 140, no.1576) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1969): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Other (1971): | Description and photographs by Raymond Lamb (1973, 78, 84, 85; 1976, 145, 152) |
| Other (1997): | Description for the Unst Chapel-Sites Survey (GUARD 2000; RCAHMS MS 725/253-4) |
Footings of seven sub-rectangular buildings
Unquestionably pools in the peat cover
| None | ✗ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
Footings of seven sub-rectangular buildings, and at the seaward end what has been noted as an old limekiln
| 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 | ✗ |
Not known
| 1: | None |
| 2: | Uncertain whether the track makes use of an original entrance |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single bank set along the crest of the slope above a gully at the neck
| Area 1: | 8.2ha. |
| Total: | 8.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 |
Hibbert, S (1822) A Description of the Shetland Islands. Edinburgh
Lamb, R G (1973) 'Coastal settlements of the north'. Scot Archaeol Forum 5 (1973), 76-98
Lamb, R G (1976) 'The Burri Stacks of Culswick, Shetland, and other paired stack-settlements'.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 107 (1975-6), 144-54
Low, G (1879) A Tour through the Islands of Orkney and Schetland in 1774, in Anderson, J Kirkwall
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
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