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.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM13035_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600014437)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises a broch of Iron Age date, built probably between 500 BC and AD 200, surviving as a series of upstanding walls and earthworks on an island in the Loch of Brow, at around 7m above sea level. The island is attached to the mainland by a causeway.

The broch itself consists of a penannular wall, measuring 16m in diameter across walls 4.5m wide, including tumble. To the southeast is a later plantiecrub, measuring 9m by 7m across walls 1.5m thick; in 1930, a saddle quern was noted built into this structure. To the south are the remains of the stone causeway, now submerged.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. To allow for its maintenance, the scheduling excludes the above-ground elements of the post-and-wire fence running along the causeway.

Statement of National Importance

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

The monument is an example of a broch and associated remains, dating to the Iron Age. It is very probable that substantial buried remains of the broch's lower courses and foundations are preserved beneath the mound. There is a strong likelihood that archaeological deposits associated with the monument's construction, use and abandonment are preserved on the island.

The upstanding and buried remains have considerable potential to enhance our understanding of brochs, the methods used in their construction, their use and function, and the daily lives of the people who occupied them. There is high potential for the presence of artefacts and environmental evidence that could illuminate the diet, economy, and social status of the occupants and the extent to which this varied over time. Its location on an island could mean that some of its deposits may be waterlogged, which adds to the potential. Similarly, deposits associated with the submerged causeway may preserve rare organic artefactual and environmental remains.

Contextual characteristics

The broch is one of around 200 in Shetland, which may have been occupied at around the same time. This broch is overlooked by a later prehistoric homestead at East Longfield, which itself lies just 1km southeast of the broch of Lunabister. It therefore has the potential to enhance our understanding of the relationship between brochs and other settlement types, the extent to which they were contemporary, and their relationship with the wider landscape. Brochs have been viewed as having a defensive or offensive function, or simply as being the prestige dwellings and farms of an elite keen to display its status. The site therefore retains the potential to enhance our understanding of the relationship between brochs, some of which may be contemporary, and with the wider landscape.

It is possible that the freshwater Spiggie Loch and the Loch of Brow, now separated by a moss, were once joined and made up a voe. If this was once the case, the site would originally have been located on an intertidal islet. The situation of the monument contrasts with that of the nearby broch of Lunabister and the homestead at East Longfield, with which the site is intervisible.

Associative characteristics

House names in the vicinity reference the site, including 'Broch View' to the north and 'Waterbrough' to the south.

National Importance

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, in particular of Iron Age Shetland and the role and function of brochs. The monument offers potential to study the relationship between an island broch and a prehistoric homestead and another broch in the near vicinity. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the development and use of brochs in Shetland.

References

Bibliography

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.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.