Brough of Deerness
The Brough of Deerness is a sea stack on the North Sea coast of the Deerness peninsula of Mainland, Orkney, which was until relatively recently a headland attached to the main island. It is the site of an abandoned mediæval village, from the Norse period, and possibly earlier settlement.
Today the brough appears as no more than a large grassy rock off the shore, joined to the island by a rubble-strewn gap filled at high tide, known as Little Burrageo. An approach to the site is a difficult one, and can only be made at a favourable tide. A would-be visitor must scramble down a slippery, muddy slope down into Little Burrageo, cross the rocks and then climb steeply up the only, narrow, face available to reach the top of the stack.
The top of the stack is a narrow place, perhaps 90 yards wide, surrounded by sheer cliffs 100 feet high. Here though are faint traces of the mediæval village, surrounding the visible remains of a 10th century chapel.
The site was once connected to the Orkney Mainland by a land bridge, but a geologist's examination in 2008, confirmed this had crumbled away a long time before it was occupied.
The remains of the chapel stand four of five feet high. This was built in the late Norse period. Around it is an archaeological complex with a bank and wall and a tight cluster of an estimated 30 structures.
Outside links
- Location map: 58°57’52"N, 2°42’16"W
- Streetmap: HY595087
- Brough o' Deerness – Orkneyar