SC4179: Hoga Ness, Unst |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER: Shetland Amenity Trust 157
NMR: HP 50 SE 3 (50)
SM: 2072
NGR: HP 5578 0052
X: 455780 Y: 1200520 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
The broch on the low cliff-line of Hoga Ness has been reduced largely to a mound of rubble, but the outer defences are relatively spectacular, comprising an inner wall with two external ditches and a medial rampart drawn in an arc to bar access to the promontory from the N and E. The outer rampart returns and unites with the inner wall around the terminal of the ditch on the E side of an entrance causeway on the NNW, while W of this entrance the wall and the ditch run straight out to the cliff-edge, the ditch exploiting a natural cleft running in from the sea. In behind the wall at this point this W sector of the interior his heavily eroded, and even a conservative restoration of the original edge suggests that the broch stood eccentrically on the E side of the enclosed area. The remains of the inner wall cannot be traced all the way round this eastern side, and the inner ditch, which is about 7m in breadth, stops short of the cliif-edge, though two slighter banks of rubble fill the gap; whether these are blocking an earlier entrance or the ditch is unfinished and these banks are perhaps the remains of an earlier perimeter is unclear. While the outer defences are conventionally interpreted as outworks to the broch, they are certainly not concentric to it and they may once have independently enclosed a much larger area measuring at least 40m deep from NE to SW by 50m transversely (0.15ha).
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Confirmed: | The relationship between the broch and its outer defences is unknown, but the latter are likely to be the remains of a promontory fort. |
X: -109157 Y: 8553656 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -0.980572 Latitude: 60.684145 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Shetland Islands
Historic County: Shetland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Unst
| 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: 10.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
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: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✗ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✓ | Overlain by a later rectangular building |
| None: | No details. |
RCAHMS also hold a range of photographic material from various visitors, and aerial views
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1774): | Noted by G Low (1879, 151) |
| Other (1822): | Noted by Samuel Hibbert (1822, 397) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1878): | Annotated Brough on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Shetland 1882, sheet 8) |
| Earthwork Survey (1930): | Plan and description (RCAHMS 1946, iii, 131-2, no.1545, fig 659; RCAHMS SHD 11/1-2 & SC336007) |
| Other (1938): | Scheduled |
| Other (1969): | Visited by the OS |
The E side is occupied by the broch
| None: | ✓ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
The broch
| No Known Features: | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
| 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: | ✗ |
| No Known Finds: | ✓ |
| Pottery: | ✗ |
| Metal: | ✗ |
| Metalworking: | ✗ |
| Human Bones: | ✗ |
| Animal Bones: | ✗ |
| Lithics: | ✗ |
| Environmental: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
The broch
| APs Not Checked: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
See main summary.
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 2 |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
| Entrance 1 (North): | Passage-way/Corridor: | Rampart and inner wall return and unite around the terminal of the inner ditch |
| Entrance 2 (Southeast): | Simple Gap: | Causeway across the ditch blocked by rubble banks |
| Entrance 2 (Southeast): | Blocked: | Either blocking or an unfinished construction |
An inner wall and a rampart with two ditches cutting off an eroded promontory
| 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: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts: | 2 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate: | ✓ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✓ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
Inconsistency in the line of the ditch might be the result of an incomplete scheme
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✓ |
| Rubble: | ✗ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| 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: | 2 |
| Annex: | ✗ |
Hibbert, S (1822) A Description of the Shetland Islands. Edinburgh
Low, G (1879) A Tour through the Islands of Orkney and Schetland in 1774. 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: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C4179
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31118517
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.