Scheduled Monument
Gossabrough, broch and settlement, East YellSM2069
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
- 26/06/1934
- Last Date Amended
- 17/11/1997
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: broch; settlement (if not assigned to any more specific type), Secular: Viking settlement, Norse settlement
- Local Authority
- Shetland Islands
- Parish
- Yell
- NGR
- HU 53371 83300
- Coordinates
- 453371, 1183300
Description
The monument comprises the remains of an Iron Age broch together with the remains of an adjacent settlement. The broch alone was scheduled in 1934, and the present proposal extends the protected area to include the later settlement in addition.
The broch survives as a mound set on a knoll to the S of Wick of Gossabrough. Part of the outer face of the broch is exposed on the W side of the mound. E and S of the mound is an area with turf-covered foundations of rectangular structures, and this area seems to be bounded by a bank on the E and NE. These foundations are likely to be the remains of a settlement either of the post-broch Iron Age or, more likely, of the Norse-medieval period.
The area now to be scheduled is irregular on plan. The S boundary runs parallel to, and 10m S of, the modern fence which crosses the S flank of the broch mound, turning at its E end to follow a second fence toward the NE. The SE corner of the scheduled area is formed by the junction of these two fences. From this SE corner, the area's boundary runs N for 50m, then W for 80m, then S for 80m to rejoin the S boundary. This includes the broch and the settlement together with an area around them in which further remains are likely to survive below ground level. The area is shown in red on the accompanying map extract.
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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