{{Short description|Iron Age village on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Use British English|date=March 2013}} {{Infobox historic site |name = Broch of Gurness |native_name = |alternate_name = |image = Broch of Gurness2.jpg |alt = |caption = Broch of Gurness |map_type = Scotland Orkney |map_alt = |location = Mainland, Orkney |region = Scotland |coordinates = {{coord|59.1239|-3.0813|region:GB-ORK|display=inline,title}} |type = Iron age settlement |part_of = |length = |width = |area = |height = |builder = |material = |built = |abandoned = |epochs = Iron Age |cultures = |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = |archaeologists = |condition = |ownership = Historic Scotland |public_access = Yes |website = |notes =
|designation1 = Scheduled monument |designation1_offname = Aiker Ness, Broch of Gurness, broch and settlement |designation1_date = 4 May 1994 |designation1_number = {{Historic Environment Scotland|num=SM90157|short=yes}} }}
The '''Broch of Gurness''' is an Iron Age broch village on the northeast coast of Mainland Orkney in Scotland overlooking Eynhallow Sound, about 15 miles north-west of Kirkwall. It once housed a substantial community. It was discovered by the Orkney poet and naturalist Robert Rendall in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Holly |title=Poet, Preacher, Painter…Conchologist |url=https://stromnessmuseum.org.uk/blog/poet-preacher-painter%E2%80%A6conchologist-fri-05032021-1054 |website=Stromness Museum blog}}</ref>
==Description== Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC.<ref name="HS"/> At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it (resembling the set-up at Mine Howe). It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.<ref name="HS"/><ref name="Monuments">{{cite book|last=Wickham-Jones|first=Caroline|title=Monuments of Orkney|publisher=Historic Scotland|year=2012|isbn=978-1-84917-073-4}}</ref>{{rp|38}}
The remains of the central tower are up to {{convert|3.6|m|ft|01}} high, and the stone walls are up to {{convert|4.1|m|ft|01}} thick.
The roof probably was conical or mildly hyperbolic.<ref>Angus Konstam (2006). ''Forts of Celtic Britain''. Osprey Publishing, 64 pages, {{ISBN|978-1-84603-064-2}}</ref>
The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.<ref name="HS"/>
The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.<ref name="HS"/>
The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A "main street" connects the outer entrance to the broch.<ref name="Monuments"/>{{rp|38}} The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.<ref name="HS"/>
Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a "King of Orkney" submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.<ref>Moffat, Alistair (2005). ''Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History''. London. Thames & Hudson. pp. 173–4.</ref>
At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in.<ref name="HS"/> It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings.<ref name="Monuments"/>{{rp|38}} Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.<ref name="HS"/>
In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron.<ref name="Monuments"/>{{rp|38}} Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.<ref name="HS">{{cite web|url=https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/broch-of-gurness/|title=Broch of Gurness|access-date=8 June 2014}}</ref>
The broch is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.<ref name="HS"/>
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Broch of Gurness in summer 2012 (2).JPG|Broch of Gurness File:Broch of Gurness in summer 2012 (18).JPG File:Broch of Gurness in summer 2012 (15).JPG|Entrance to the main building File:Broch of Gurness in summer 2012 (10).JPG|Detail of the wall File:Broch of Gurness in summer 2012 (19).JPG File:Broch of Gurness in summer 2012 (22).JPG|View from the south File:Broch of Gurness in Aug 2024.jpg|alt=Broch of Gurness|Broch of Gurness File:Broch of Gurness in Aug 2024 (2).jpg|alt=Broch of Gurness|Broch of Gurness File:Broch of Gurness in Aug 2024 (3).jpg|alt=Broch of Gurness - distinctive double wall|Broch of Gurness File:Broch of Gurness in Aug 2024 (4).jpg|alt=Broch of Gurness|Broch of Gurness </gallery>
==See also== {{Commons category|Broch of Gurness}} * Brough of Birsay * Point of Hellia * Sands of Evie
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=SM90157|desc=Aiker Ness, Broch of Gurness, broch and settlement}} *Historic Environment Scotland: [https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/broch-of-gurness Visitor guide]
{{Prehistoric Orkney}} {{Broch}}
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Gurness Category:Prehistoric Orkney Category:Historic Environment Scotland properties in Orkney Category:Museums in Orkney Category:Archaeological museums in Scotland Category:Scheduled monuments in Orkney Category:Mainland, Orkney