Big Howe Broch 260m WNW of Stenness Church Stenness, Scotland

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, 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 Iron Age society in Orkney and the function, use and development of brochs. Results of geophysical survey indicate that the remains of the broch and ditched enclosure are well-preserved below ground. By analogy with excavated brochs in Orkney, this monument is likely to retain its basal structural characteristics to a marked degree and, together with the ditched enclosure, will certainly contain deposits rich in occupation debris, artefacts and palaeoenvironmental evidence. Its importance is enhanced because of its siting within the Neolithic ritual landscape around the Ness of Brodgar. The Stones of Stenness lie less than 70m to the NW and the late Neolithic settlement of Barnhouse lies only 200m to the NNE. The close proximity of Big Howe broch to these earlier monuments is clearly of significance and has the potential to inform our understanding of the Iron Age community's respect for and appropriation of earlier monuments, perhaps for political or social reasons. Its siting just S of the Ness of Brodgar, a narrow strip of land between the Loch of Stenness and the Loch of Harray, is also likely to have been of strategic significance. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the development, use and re-use of brochs, and the nature of Iron Age society, economy and social hierarchy in Orkney and further afield.