Brough of Braebister

Also known as:
Braebister and Braebuster
Nearest town:
Stromness (6km NNE)
OS reference:
HY21300522
OS sheets:
6, 7
Latitude:
58° 55' 38.37 N
Longitude:
3° 22' 1.73 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

top of tumble as seen from summit with orthostats at left

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

top right of tumble with orthostats and ?earthfast stones

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

top left of tumble with exposed walls and possible structure

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

area of tumble (? eastern quadrant)

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

brough from other side of geo with with Cuilags and Kame of Hoy in the distance, area of tumble far right

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

top of Brough with earthfast stones right and suspiciously linear end to promontory top

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

‘path’ going to western quadrant exposure

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

‘front’ view of likely structure in western quadrant

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

main exposed elements in western quadrant, likely structure at left

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

approach to brough from burn side

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020
Image of Brough of Braebister (Promontory Fort) by wideford

first sighting of whole of the brough from the Braebister road, with Hoy Sound behind

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020

Articles

Brough of Braebister

wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020

Take pedestrian ferry from Stromness to North Hoy (alternately take the Houton ferry and drive from Lyness). From Moaness pier follow the road straight up until you’re nearing the reservoir at the start of the Rackwick Trail then turn right onto the road that starts parallel to Round Hill. Unless you own property here you will have to leave any transport behind when you reach the interpretation board, opposite which is a people gate, Just past Murra turn left. The road turns into a track as you approach Head. At Head turn left towards Braebister Burn then turn right snd follow the fence. The brough lies between Braebister Burn and the steep-sided Yelting Geo. The footbridge you see is for folk taking the coastal walk from Moaness continuing to the Kame of Hoy, the silo drums upstream had been aadaped as a fish hatchery. Along the mound is a diagonal line that brings to mind days excavating with wheelbarrows. This a grassy path about a metre wide that goes all the way up and ends at the edge of the best preserved section. I’d love it to be an antique track there but sespect the way was used for plundering stones for work elsewhere. The mound definitely feels like two different sites, one upon another. The archaeolgy goes all the way up to the cliff edges, so watch your step – the day I was there 40mph winds buffeted me as I risked the photos but no way was I circling taking video, you could die that way.

Miscellaneous

Brough of Braebister
Promontory Fort
wideford
wideford Aug 25, 2020

RCAHMS record no. HY20NW 20 is a mound 10 to 12 feet high mostly thought to be either the outwork to a broch (some instead go for a blockhouse underneath ) or an earlier promontory fort, the only dating evdence being broch-style pottery (finds lost), It lies ESE/WNW with an interior of the order 90’ by 55’. The isthmus neck is blocked by a bank 10’ wide and the same in height, in which Raymond Lamb saw walling traces with erect slabs amongst the rubble as well as what is left of a much slighter outer bank and ditch. On the mound antiquarians thought there had been a substantial stone structure reduced to slight scattered remains that led them to deduce 12’ thick walls consistent with a broch. Some large stones stood in situ, more so at the cliff’s west side. The mound’s slopes abound in walling traces and earthfast stones. A shell midden yielded those fragments of the coarse ware called broch-type. RCAHMS couldn’t find the midden later, but given how cnfusing the site lies I would suggest that this is the midden later found on the south side of the clifftop behind the supposed blockhouse. Much of the promontory contains wall traces and earthfast stones.

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