Featured: Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Random Image


Gatcombe Lodge

Iron Age Britain, Barry Cunliffe

Iron Age Britain, Barry Cunliffe

Who's Online

There are currently, 521 guests and 4 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Berstane Broch - Broch or Nuraghe in Scotland in Orkney

Submitted by howar on Thursday, 03 June 2004  Page Views: 5591

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Berstane Broch
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Broch or Nuraghe
Nearest Town: Kirkwall
Map Ref: HY475100  Landranger Map Number: 6
Latitude: 58.973926N  Longitude: 2.914837W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
1 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
2 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

Internal Links:
External Links:

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : Vertical line of rocks far left above centre at right angles to the rest, projecting over the cliff Orkney HY475100 see main text (Vote or comment on this photo)
Broch in Orkney


Not far from the edge of town, down below Berstane Farm follow the track that goes to the right, the direction of Inganess Bay. At the far corner of the grounds of Berstane House is a dovecot, a square masonry tower with a stepped back at the top. From here look diagonally acoss to the familiar shape of an eroded broch on the small headland at the bottom of a field. There are supposed to be other settlement remains in the vicinity but I'm not aware of having seen any. Coming down to it I saw a big scoop in the centre of my field of view which I thought to be the broch interior with small stones around the edge revealed. But from the top of the mound I saw this to be a scoop excavated from the ege rather, for here I was definitely in the region of the interior.

This broch is of a similar size and situation to Ingshowe but with fewer large stones exposed to view. I had to crawl through a barbwire fence to stand on the high point from where I could make out more easily the general 'furniture' of a broch. CANMORE said a section was exposed 10' up the cliff face and I had seen on the left an easy way down to the beach. The masses of seaweed made further exploration dangerous and I would advise not going alone . Carefully I made my way around to the sandy area at the foot of the cliff supporting the broch. Here the upper part looks very similar to Ingshowe (right down to the stones pointing out at right-angles over the cliff) except that the base isn't well delineated - probably owing to its being built upon well inclined strata.


You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : from shore (Vote or comment on this photo)

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar (Vote or comment on this photo)

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar (Vote or comment on this photo)

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar (Vote or comment on this photo)

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar (Vote or comment on this photo)

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : lochside left of centre less well defined Orkney HY475100

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : Lochside view showing remaining broch tower Orkney HY475100 see main text

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : Shoreside right of centre Orkney HY475100 see main text

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : Surviving interior Orkney HY475100 see main text

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : Excavated area in front of broch Orkney HY475100 see main text

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : broch from fieldside Orkney HY475100 see main text

Berstane Broch
Berstane Broch submitted by howar : Looking down on broch and across to Long Ayre and Weethick Orkney HY475100 see main text

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 779m SW 229° Tower Hill (Orkney)* Round Barrow(s) (HY469095)
 1.5km S 187° Grimsquoy* Round Barrow(s) (HY473085)
 2.7km WNW 288° Kirkwall Sculptured Stone (HY44941087)
 2.7km WNW 293° Kirkwall Sculptured Stone (HY450111)
 2.8km WNW 287° Tankerness House Museum* Museum (HY44851086)
 2.8km WNW 286° The Orkney Museum* Museum (HY448108)
 3.0km WSW 250° Scapa* Barrow Cemetery (HY447090)
 3.1km WSW 242° Hillhead* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY44720855)
 3.1km SSE 164° Staneloof* Cairn (HY48330698)
 3.3km E 84° Yinstay* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY50841031)
 3.5km SSE 152° Craw Howe* Cairn (HY491069)
 3.6km S 176° Heathery Howes* Round Barrow(s) (HY477064)
 3.6km WNW 288° Pickaquoy* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY44071116)
 3.6km WSW 253° Crantit* Souterrain (Fogou, Earth House) (HY440090)
 3.7km WNW 297° Grain Earth House* Souterrain (Fogou, Earth House) (HY442117)
 3.9km ESE 112° Whitecleat* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (HY511085)
 3.9km NNE 12° Head of Work* Chambered Cairn (HY48341382)
 4.0km ESE 104° The Howie of The Manse* Broch or Nuraghe (HY514090)
 4.2km WSW 252° Broch of Lingro* Broch or Nuraghe (HY435088)
 4.3km WSW 258° Nevada Cott* Artificial Mound (HY433092)
 4.3km ESE 117° Mill Sand* Standing Stones (HY513080)
 4.5km WSW 251° Lingrow* Chambered Tomb (HY43240863)
 4.6km SE 133° Nearhouse* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY508068)
 4.7km E 98° Loch of Tankerness* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY522093)
 4.8km E 101° Grieves Cottage* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY522090)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Mark Stone of Gaitnip

Churchill Standing Stone >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky: Monuments of Neolithic Orkney

Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky: Monuments of Neolithic Orkney

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Berstane Broch" | Login/Create an Account | 0 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.