Scheduled Monument
Loch That Ebbs & Flows,settlement NW of,Papa StourSM6382
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 14/05/1996
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: house; settlement (if not assigned to any more specific type)
- Local Authority
- Shetland Islands
- Parish
- Walls And Sandness
- NGR
- HU 16638 61403
- Coordinates
- 416638, 1161403
Description
The monument comprises the remains of a prehistoric settlement, consisting of the foundations of two houses and other structures, set on a sloping ledge on the NW side of the loch.
The most impressive feature is the foundation of a substantial house. This has an oval plan with a flattened facade at the entrance flanked by projecting walls to form a porch or forecourt. Within the house are clear traces of pillars or subdivisions, six in number, which may have helped support the roof. This foundation is 11m by 12.5m externally. The walls are from 1.5m to 2.5m thick. Small enclosures are attached to the NE and to the SE, where the latter appears to be secondary to the original plan.
The entrance faces SE. 20m to the NNE is a second house foundation, which is of simple oval plan, 12.1m by 11m externally, with an entrance facing S. 15m N of the second house a structure has been formed by a curving wall built against a rock face. There are several small mounds, probably cairns of field-cleared stones, scattered between and around the larger foundations.
The area to be scheduled is irregular, bounded on the E by the shore of the loch, and includes the three constructions described above and an area around and between them in which further evidence for prehistoric settlement is likely to survive. It measures and maximum of 170m N-S by 100m E-W, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance as a well-preserved pre-Iron Age agricultural settlement, one of several in this part of Papa Stour. As well as its significance as a monument in its own right, it forms part of a group of neighbouring sites which show differences in detail, although all of broadly similar date. This gives the group important potential to provide information about the range and variety of prehistoric domestic architecture and domestic and agricultural economy.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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