The Broch of Borwick is situated on top of an eroding headland overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
In simplistic terms a broch is a stone tower built in the Iron Age, most brochs were occupied 2000 years ago. The best surviving example (Mousa) is 13 metres tall, majority were probably never this tall.
Until the late 19th century, in common with other unexcavated broch sites Borwick survived as a turf covered mound. In 1881 William Watt, of Skaill (who also excavated at nearby Skara Brae) cleared the loose material from the mound revealing the remains of the broch. Watt also excavated some of the outbuildings/settlement that had built up on the landward side of the broch, today these are just a series of irregular bumps and sections of wall in a state of collapse. The outer part of the site is often neglected as it is not much to look at .
Grid Reference: HY 2241 1678
Photographed: 3 October 2015 Model built: 5 December 2015 Model created using: Agisoft PhotoScan 1.2.0
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