About Durness
Durness (from ‘deer point’ in Old Norse) is the most north-westerly village in mainland Britain, a green stretch of coastal ground fringed by rugged mountains and sweeps of sandy beach. Its limestone geology makes this fertile ground, and it’s likely that early sailors like the Vikings recognised its fertility and settled here. 'Viking' refers to the people who sailed from Norway in the 8th and 9th centuries to raid, pillage and plunder in northern Scotland, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Eventually they settled to farm in these areas and ceased to go a-Viking (raiding). These 10th-century and later farmers are called the Norse.
Durness has a rich archaeological heritage: Neolithic chambered tombs, later prehistoric round houses and fields, early monastic hermitages along the coast, the site of a Medieval church at Balnakeil, the remains of townships cleared for sheep in the 19th century, and coastal radar defences and bunkers from the Second World War.
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Balnakeil Bay |
The Late Norse site at Sangobeg |
Some of this archaeology relates to the Norse. The 9th- or 10th-century burial of a boy, 8-13 years old, was found in the dunes at Balnakeil Bay. He had been buried with a sword, shield and spear, a pin or brooch, beads and some gaming pieces, typical Viking-Age grave goods. A midden excavated in a small cave off Smoo Inlet dated from the 9th to the 12th centuries; it may have been left by Viking/Norse sailors using the inlet for shelter. At Sangobeg, the remains of a late Norse settlement were excavated and found to overlie a burial that dated from the 1st century BC.
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A shieling structure near the Kyle of Durness |
A prehistoric house near Loch Borralie |
The landscape to the south-west of Durness village, around Loch Borralie, is particularly rich in archaeology. It is also highly dynamic, with deep wind-blown sand under thin turf cover. When the turf is disturbed by rabbit burrowing, gales blow away the sand, often exposing archaeological remains which are then vulnerable to further erosion. The exposed archaeology was recorded by GUARD in 2001 in a survey funded by Historic Scotland. The survey found Iron Age round houses and burial cairns, 19th-century township remains, and the two Norse/Medieval buildings first excavated in 2004.
Click over the links below to download a pdf detailing the archaeological heritage around Loch Borralie as Microsoft Word or Adobe pdf documents.
Borralie Archaeology (13
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Borralie Archaeology (123
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