Broch of Gurness

Iron Age broch village on the northeast coast of Mainland Orkney, overlooking Eynhallow Sound, and the best-preserved broch village in Scotland. Settled between 500 and 200 BC, the complex features a central stone tower about 65 ft in diameter surrounded by roughly 14 houses, all defended by two rock-cut ditches and a rampart. After the broch fell out of use around AD 100, Pictish settlers reoccupied the site into the 5th century. A 9th-century Norse woman was buried here with bronze brooches, a sickle, and an iron knife. Discovered in 1929 by poet Robert Rendall.