An Early Orkney Castle. 281 an Early Orkney Castle. by J
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AN EARLY ORKNEY CASTLE. 281 VI. AN EARLY ORKNEY CASTLE. BY J. STORER CLOUSTON, P.S.A.ScoT. I. Of the structure which forms the subject of this paper nothing but the bare foundations remain. As a rule only one or two courses of stones mann i lefte d yar an ;case s even these have vanished interess It . t lien si singulae th r characte whole th f eo r building. Even in Norway, surviving defensive struc- tures of an early date are practically non- existent. How rare they are may be judged fro face mth t that Professo W. A r. Br^gger of Oslo Museum s o recomwhot , wa mI - mended to apply for information, as the like- liest authorit giveo t havo yt y , repliean e d that therNorwegiao n s ei n material throw- smale e subject th lighth y ln n an I o t g . in Norse colon f Orkneyo woule yon d scarcely expect what one fails to find in the old mother country; but here foreign influences were evidently at work, and, as will be seen later, there are actually the remains of several such fortalices in our islands. This, however, is the first to be excavated and described. The two buildings within the courtyard e castle—oth f a drinking-hal a bath d -an l Pig Sitee . Pla1 .th f .no discovern ca room—are I s a ,uniqua r fa o s ,e find outside Iceland and Greenland. Certainly, if anything quite like these has been found in Norway, no reference to it is made in such recent "works as Norges Historic and Norges Binder, in the sections dealing with old dwelling-houses. The position and immediate surroundings of the site are shown in a littl f o e d peninsulen e castl e stand) Th th (A e afigt . a 1 s.calle d Gernaness (O.N. Grcena-nes = green ness), in the loch of Stenness, just ove mil1 r tidae th eas lf o channelt opening intseae oth . Gernaness si roughly abou yard0 7 t slittla lond egan ove yard0 3 r s wide where eth foundations are situated. It is quite flat, and only rises about a couple 282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1926. of feet above average loch-level. The soil is particularly rich. Just above the inland end stands a group of buildings forming the double farm of the Bast and West Netherbigging of Cloustoii; the whole being sometimes styled in old deeds, " The House of Clouston." Some of these buildings, shown in the plan (B), are of great age. What actually led to the excavations being made was the tradition pointe s thesth A f o . eoa d chapefchape en e l th l sit t traditiona e s have always proved reliable, s vers thia wa syd specific—evean e th o t n exten f creditino t e chapeth g l wit e distinctiohth f havinno g provided the stones for the dyke round the ness—digging was begun in the summe e hop f 192th f o r discoverin o en 4 i s foundationsgit t firsA a t. stretc f easwesd ho an t t running wall seeme o indicatt d d e ha tha e w t found them, but this proved to be merely part of a small, much later structure (possibly a boat-house). Then at last we came upon foundations of a different and very unclerical kind, in the form of a clay- cemented wall, 8 feet thick, with one edge curved and the other straight. Before long I was able to send a preliminary plan of the foundations to Mr G-, P. H. Watson, F.S.A.Scot., who at once confirmed the view that already seeme e onldth y possible conclusion. They were clearly those of a place of strength, of a date yet to be determined, but certainly t earlieno r than mediaeval e coursth f n laso I e .t winte d thian rs summe e excavationth r s were completed d ther s disclosean , wa e a d structure which may briefly be described as consisting, in the first place, of a primitive donjon or keep of unusual shape and dimensions; secondly a courtyar f o , d surrounde curvina y b d g defensive walld an ; thirdly t leasa buildingo f tw o t, d soman s e stretche f rougo s h paving within the court. difficultiee Th f workin o e plas th nt wergou e considerable n factI . , s proveha t i d impossibl o trac t ee foundation th e s completelye Th . chief difficulty was the fact that, probajaly for many generations, the site had been used as a quarry whenever stones were required for building purposese wallth t onlysd No beeha . n removed right down to the foundations, but the large stones on the outer edges of the foundations themselve mann i d ysha places been lifted too. Occasionally one could folloe hears walla directio th it e f lin f o f wi th t,o e n were obvious; but when it came to fallen debris being mingled with this, the job was impossible. Again, in one particular place (the area X, X in fig. 2), the Air Force, who commandeered this ness during the war in connection with an abortive seaplane station, had for some reason removed every vestige of the old foundations. A third difficulty was the outer dyke round the ness, since, for part of the way, it stands right on top of AN EARLY ORKNE3 28 Y CASTLE. the northern curtain-wall. And a final difficulty was the loch, which in winter d evean ,n during spring tide n summeri s , rose througe th h excavations and flooded us out of certain areas. One particular December day, whe e coule w nisleto th dtw n i s worr o e k on onl n yo a fulflood d l an gals blowin, ewa e spith gn drift fro e locmth h over us in showers, will not readily be forgotten. Against these difficultie e remarkablon st f luckse muso t e b .bi et Once the foundations had revealed themselves as a place of strength, it was natural to think of other early Orkney castles on record in the e sucsagaOn h . structur s mentionei e s standina d t Cairstona g n i , Stromness parish,1 and the recollection of a stretch of thick wall noticed some years before at the Bu of Cairston suggested a second visit. This disclose e surprisinth d g fact that there still stand considerable remains of a clay-cemented keep-and-courtyard castle. They will be referre o againt d ; meanwhil s onli t yi e necessar y thasa t o t they y naturally helped materiall castle plae th trac th f yo t Clouston ent t a o eou , II. Fig show 2 . e whol s beee plath ha th sf n nt o ei structures a r fa o s , possibl traco et t witei h certainty. Wherever both edges were found, the wall is blocked in black throughout. Where edges are missing, but the heart of the wall is there .and its course known, edges are shown by broken lines and the heart blocked black with a wavy border. Where the line can merely be inferred, only the probable edges are indicated. hery sa e y thama t I throughout almos entire th t e excavationI s have had the assistance of Mr Thomas Brass, an old and experienced masont evera d yan , tur s expernI relie hi n do t knowledg f Orkneo e y masonry e lifte replaced W .an d d stone after ston t varioua e s points, to test the presence of building clay, the bonding at junctions, and the question of whether we were dealing -with true foundations or debris which resembled exactinn foundations a r Bras s M s wa sa g d critican ; , 1 Sinc guesea s that Knarston (near Scapa) t Cairstonno , , true shoulth ee readingb d s ha , found its way into print in works of some authority, it is perhaps as well to record the facts. The gues e sagbases th aswa n do anecdot e that when lefn Eart me l thei s Haralhi r d shipdan s and took refuge in the castle, one man was so frightened that he ran all the way to Kirkwall; e pointh t being tha tr fro Cairstofa m o Kirkwallto s ni . But, seriously considered s quiti t i ,e incredible tha fighting-mata f that—oo n other—agy an r e shoul panic-strickeo s e db n before h e eves wa n attacked seconA . d battl takd edi e place near Knarsto yearo ntw s later whicn i , e hth same Earl Harald was surprised in the night and put to flight with considerable slaughter, and the anecdote evidently really refers to this encounter. The saga reading Kjarrekssta&ir is quite explicit and is repeated later. Knarston was well known to the saga writer, being mentioned several times thao s , t suc a hmistak guese th s sea implies woul mose db t improb- abl generan eo l grounds. 284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1926. nothing was passed without a severe examination. The site was then . CloustonH . surveyeT r M , F.S.A.e methoy db th y f b stringin,o d t i g into 10-foot squares.