The Howie of The Manse [Loch of Tankerness] Broch or Nuraghe : The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map:

<< Our Photo Pages >> The Howie of The Manse - Broch or Nuraghe in Scotland in Orkney

Submitted by howar on Sunday, 28 March 2004 Page Views: 7415

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: The Howie of The Manse Alternative Name: Loch of Tankerness
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Broch or Nuraghe
Nearest Town: Kirkwall
Map Ref: HY514090 Landranger Map Number: 6
Latitude: 58.965408N Longitude: 2.846795W
Condition:

5	Perfect
4	Almost Perfect
3	Reasonable but with some damage
2	Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1	Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0	No data.
-1	Completely destroyed

1 Ambience:

5	Superb
4	Good
3	Ordinary
2	Not Good
1	Awful
0	No data.

1 Access:

5	Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4	Short walk on a footpath
3	Requiring a bit more of a walk
2	A long walk
1	In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0	No data.

1 Accuracy:

5	co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4	co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3	co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2	co-ordinates of the nearest village
1	co-ordinates of the nearest town
0	no data

3

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**The Howie of the Manse** submitted by howar : view from Whitecleat hill Orkney HY514090 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Broch in Orkney

This broch sits on a small headland jutting out into the lower end of the Loch of Tankerness.Two ways to reach the site, neither straightforward and both requiring boots. One is to follow the mill stream and step on and over the wall where the stream comes to the loch shore, then follow the shoreline to your right. This way is very marshy and somewhat treacherous. An interesting feature of the wall is that ( on the one side of the stream at least ) it is formed of two courses of thin slabs set on end - this I would associate with the builders of the 19thC Mill as it looks rather out of place in Orkney to me .Over the stream is a most curious construction . Following the shoreline there are places where stones appear placed by the hand of man. Alternatively go up the hill from the Tankerness Mill and just round the road from Northwood House the sound of doves comes from Glebe . Go to the field that is directly behind this then downfield to the shore. It tends to be rather suckily muddy in many places. I would suggest going down the left-hand as the wall does a few strange things - there are two standing stones built into walls, one inside aligned with a wall and another at right angles to a wall ending it but lacking holes or other indications of having been a gatepost. Down at the bottom of this field there are a few 'sets' of large stones that would seem to represent former structures here ( in my opinion at least ) - I may be wrong but would note that at the Hall of Tankerness junction smack in the middle of a field stands a solitary standing stone with packing that does not appear on CANMORE either. To get to the headland requires going through a barbed wire fence, which fortunately has plenty of give in it or I'd never have managed it. It is one of the least prepossessing brochs I have seen, though at the seaward end it stands rather higher than the likes of Oxtro. At first sight I thought that there was nothing. Going towards it you can certainly feel plenty of apparently isolated stones hidden beneath the grass but no sense of stucture that I could tell. Coming to the highpoint and taking the line around you certainly get a strong feel for where the inner and outer walls were, going by the turf. Then I reached the top and there was a roughly rectangular depression. Looking on the inner side I made out several slabs in a non-radial line . So I did some rooting about and tearing off of the overhanging grass. Definitely a straight wall, remaining about six foot long and a foot or so high. The other side is less well defined, a few loose stones as far as I could tell and not so obviously slabs. If you go poking about then gloves are a necessity - the place is covered in almost invisibly short nettles. CANMORE mention several shallow sun- and rectangular banks S and W, and defensive remains 27m and 42m from the centre.
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:

HY5109 : Drowned Fence, Tankerness by Adam Ward — by Adam Ward
©2008(licence)

HY5108 : Derelict house and rookery near Mill of Tankerness by Oliver Dixon — by Oliver Dixon
©2015(licence)

HY5109 : Loch of Tankerness by Adam Ward — by Adam Ward
©2008(licence)

HY5108 : Curious Coo by Adam Ward — by Adam Ward
©2008(licence)

HY5108 : Mill Sand near Toab by C Michael Hogan — by C Michael Hogan
©2009(licence)

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