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Broch of Gurness

Broch of Gurness

Photo: Rob Burke · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Orkney, Scotland
Client / Owner
—
Year
-300
Access
Tickets required
Style
—

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village on the northeast coast of Mainland Orkney, Scotland, overlooking Eynhallow Sound. Robert Rendall discovered it in 1929. Settlement began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. The central stone tower probably stood about ten meters high. Its walls are up to 4.1 meters thick, with two drystone skins and galleries between them, two hearths and a subterranean cistern.

Three rock-cut ditches with stone ramparts enclose a space about 45 meters in diameter. Small stone dwellings lie between the inner ditch and the tower, and a main street links the outer entrance to the broch. It is the best-preserved broch village of its type.

Roman amphora fragments dating to before 60 AD were found there. The site is scheduled as a monument and is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

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