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

Submitted by howar on Thursday, 03 June 2004  Page Views: 8094

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Broch of Lingro
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Broch or Nuraghe
Nearest Town: Kirkwall
Map Ref: HY435088  Landranger Map Number: 6
Latitude: 58.962640N  Longitude: 2.984088W
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.
 3 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

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Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : RH middle stream outlet Orkney HY435088 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Broch in Orkney


This used to be in the field to the left of Highland Park Distillery. The broch tower itself was levelled in 1980, along with the immediately surrounding area, but points of interest still remain - as do unexcavated settlement mounds from there back to the main road at least. The most visible evidence of the broch lies either side of the stream outlet as it reaches the shore and cascades down (see photos). As you go up the cliff path to here you will notice a feature that itself looks like the remains of a broch or somesuch; a place where the cliff goes out and there is a ditch a couple of foot across and as deep (so I estimate) like a sector of a circle, and within its arc a small mound. As I can only see earth and sod and it isn't shown on CANMAP we may perhaps safely call it a simulacrum? If you pass over the bridge and up the other side you will need to watch your step the rest of the way - a teenager fell from near here just recently in damp conditions. There is another curious feature just past here inside where the lichen-covered wall turns for a few metres before resume its coastline track. At the point where it first turns there is a short line of regular-shaped stones darker than the wall, level with the path and over which you narrowly pass. Then up between where the wall turns again and its next juncture similar lines of like nature can be made out. Being on the coastline side of the decaying cliff face I assume that this predates the present wall. If this feature were angled away from coast I would have no doubt it represents the walls of a structure, but unless it is very ancient I am at a loss as to what it can be ( why no lichen on the stones for starters !).Down on the coast one can see more evidence of settlement at the top of the cliff face on the stream outlet's immediate right, though I wasn't convinced until I saw it today in the light of recent visits to other brochs. Where the cliff's stone ends is a layer of what looks like cultivated soil and a thin line going straight across, very reminiscent of the broch bases at Ingshowe and Berstane. There are the odd few stones to be made out in this ?matrix. But it is the next layer, that under the grass, that has finally convinced me now that I have made it out clearly. This is a layer several inches thick made up of nothing but angular fragmented small stones (and possibly man-made material) several inches deep. Unless my eyes deceive me this is most likely to be a destruction layer.
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Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : Down on the coast one can see more evidence of settlement at the top of the cliff face on the stream outlet's immediate right, though I wasn't convinced until I saw it today in the light of recent visits to other brochs. Above where the cliff's stone ends 3.9m up is a layer of what looks like cultivated soil and a thin line going straight across, very reminiscent of the broch bases at Ingshowe and... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by durhamnature : Plan of the broch, from "Scotland in Pagan Times" via archive.org (Vote or comment on this photo)

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : Newly exposed bone in short stretch between midden-y material and burn is too small for adult human I think, does not look articulated but something is keeping it in position. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : Broch stone scatter, nearer smaller patch showing tower area. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : Stone scatter over settlement area, smaller dark area where broch tower was, first ridge where rest of broch, second ridge possibly unexcavated. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : RH of mystery earthwork As you go up the cliff path to here you will notice a feature, 14m across and taking in an area out to the cliff edge 11m at furthest point, that itself looks like the remains of a broch or somesuch; a place where the cliff goes out and there is a ditch 1.8x1m like a sector of a circle, and within its arc a flat area 6x4.8m. As I can only see earth and sod and it isn't sho...

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : LH of mystery earthwork As you go up the cliff path to here you will notice a feature, 14m across and taking in an area out to the cliff edge 11m at furthest point, that itself looks like the remains of a broch or somesuch; a place where the cliff goes out and there is a ditch 1.8x1m like a sector of a circle, and within its arc a flat area 6x4.8m. As I can only see earth and sod and it isn't sho...

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : Down on the coast one can see more evidence of settlement at the top of the cliff face on the stream outlet's immediate right, though I wasn't convinced until I saw it today in the light of recent visits to other brochs. Above where the cliff's stone ends 3.9m up is a layer of what looks like cultivated soil and a thin line going straight across, very reminiscent of the broch bases at Ingshowe and...

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : stream outlet from right Orkney HY435088

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : looking across to RH of stream outlet Orkney HY435088

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : LH upstream of bridge Orkney HY435088

Broch of Lingro
Broch of Lingro submitted by howar : looking across to RH side of stream outlet Orkney HY435088

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"Broch of Lingro" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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Re: Broch of Lingro by Anonymous on Saturday, 24 April 2010
Great content and pictures, although I was slightly confused when you described the location in a field to the left of the Highland Park Distillery rather than the Old Scapa.

Have you any update on present remains since 2006?
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Re: Broch of Lingro by howar on Tuesday, 31 October 2006
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After years of waiting a storm has finally brought down from the cliif edge on the opposite side of the burn to the broch village a few sods containing the midden-y material. Definitely not pot of any kind. The coloured rock appears to be the same kind of burnt stone as I saw last week at the Loch of Tankerness. No doubt the next high enough tide will remove the material from the bottom of the cliff.
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Re: Broch of Lingro by howar on Wednesday, 24 May 2006
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When I walked the coastal path by the distillery in February the field between it and Lingro had been newly ploughed and seeded. As I result soilmarks and exposed stone plainly showed where the broch and settlement had been. On the flat section you could furthermore see the contrast between the area where the broch tower had been and that of the outworks, all picked out in stone scatter besides. Stone scatter was seen on the rise (?moraine) above and again on the rise above that, but walking further along I noticed when alongside these that the stones in the higher rise were a magnitude larger than those in the lower scatter so perhaps not to be associated with the broch. These two sets end where there is a long natural rectangular bite of a cliff, the fieldwall following the three sides. A few years back I noticed stones projecting from the modern ground surface by the NE end about a metre from the wall (i.e. closer to the cliff), mostly darker than those of the fieldwall, that appeared to be the remains of a previous wall. This is much reduced but a higher level than the presumably submerged wall foundation. Since the footpath has been renovated several further stretches of this wall/feature have been exposed. On one by the northern side (HY43370871) 6-12" high I now found a ~4x1.2m collection of stones far bigger than those making up either wall - ranging from 23-29½ by 16-23" by 3-10" - and definitely not from either, clean of lichen as well.. Not sure whether I missed these before or the path renovation has disclosed them, but they are certainly not there naturally and were once presumably structural. Coming back I noticed in the top of the modern wall further down (HY43420872) what could be a pivot stone. It measures 15x5½x5" and the circular depresssion is 1¼ across and 1" deep, which is too small for a main broch door.
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Re: Broch of Lingro by howar on Thursday, 18 August 2005
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Until sometime between 1860 and 1882 the King's Mill of Scapa occupied a small part of the present Scapa Distillery site (hopefully not where there is construction going on at present), which I take for evidence of continuity and is likely to explain at least some of the features that we saw downstream.
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Re: Broch of Lingro by howar on Wednesday, 10 August 2005
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During the 1870 dig they also excavated a chambered tomb "south of house of Lingrow (HY431086), though the sparse details in the newspaper could possibly refer rather to an earth house.
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