Castle Howe Norse Castle and Prehistoric Settlement Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK

Scheduled Monument Description

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument is a probable Norse castle, overlying and incorporating an earlier structure of probable Pictish (Late Iron Age) date. The castle dates probably from around the 12th century, and the earlier structure probably to sometime between 500-800 AD. These structures are built within and atop a substantial mound which may also contain prehistoric structural remains. The monument is located on the SW coast of Holm, Orkney Mainland, at about 5m above sea level, immediately S of Howes Wick, overlooking Holm Sound. The monument was first scheduled in 1938, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The mound is roughly circular in plan, approximately 22m in diameter, and stands up to 3m high. On top of the mound are the remains of a rectangular stone-built structure measuring approximately 9.8m E-W by 8m transversely (maximum), with an entrance in the W (seaward-facing) wall. The walls are 2.2m thick on average and bear traces of lime mortar, indicative of a Norse or medieval date. The earlier structure is built into the mound and is visible as a D-shaped chamber measuring approximately 4.25m E-W by 2.75m transversely; in 1929, RCAHMS recorded that its walls stood 1.6m high. The interior is partitioned with edge-set slabs and other upright stones and contains a re-used saddle quern. The lower chamber is accessed from within the upper building by a flight of stone steps, suggesting that it was re-used in the Norse period. The site was partly excavated in the 1920s, but no other artefacts are recorded.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling excludes the above-ground elements of all post-and-wire fences to allow for their maintenance.

Scheduled Monument Statement of Significance

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, in particular of Norse society in Orkney, the function, use and development of  Norse castles and associated settlements, and societal changes as a result of Norse colonisation of earlier sites. The site as a whole clearly has a complex development sequence, including probable prehistoric, Pictish and Norse remains. Its importance is enhanced because this is one of the few surviving stone-built Norse castles in Orkney and Scotland. The monument is part of a wider landscape of prehistoric and early medieval remains in this part of Orkney. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our ability to appreciate and understand the impact of Norse colonisation and organisation, including developments such as the introduction of stone-built castles during the late Norse period.

Scheduled Monument References

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

References

Ballin Smith, B (ed) 1994, Howe, Four Millennia of Orkney Prehistory, Edinburgh, Soc Antiq Scot Monogr 9.

Ballin Smith, B 2005, 'Orcadian brochs - complex settlements with complex origins', in Turner, V E, Dockrill, S J, Nicholson, R A and Bond, J M (eds) 2005, Tall Stories? Two Millennia of Brochs, Shetland Amenity Trust: Lerwick, 66-77.

Clouston, J S 1925, 'An early Orkney castle', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 60, 281-300.

Grieve, S J 1999, Norse Castles in Orkney, unpublished MA dissertation, University of Highland and Islands, Orkney campus, 67-70.

Hunter, J 2007, Investigations in Sanday, Orkney, volume 1: Excavations at Pool, Sanday - A Multi-Period Settlement from Neolithic to Late Norse Times, Orcadian Ltd.

Lamb, R G 1980, Iron Age Promontory Forts in the Northern Isles, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 79, 94.

Mackie, E W 2002, The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c 700 BC - AD 500: Architecture and Material Culture, Part 1: The Orkney and Shetland Isles, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 342.

RCAHMS, 1946, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Twelfth Report with an Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Orkney and Shetland, Edinburgh, 103, no 361.

Talbot, E 1974, 'Scandinavian fortification in the British Isles', Scot Archaeol Forum 6, 37-45.