Huxter Fort

The fort was probably built around 300 BC, the generally accepted date of most similar fortifications in the region.

It resembles other fortifications such as the Crosskirk Broch, the blockhouse in front of the Broch of Clickimin and the Ness of Burgi fort at Scatness.{{sfn|Fairhurst|Breeze|1984|p=166}}

Presumably these were built by culturally-related people.{{sfn|Harding|2004|p=148}} There are also similarities with stone forts in western Ireland, such as the Dunbeg Fort in County Kerry.{{sfn|Henderson|2007|p=186}}{{efn|The ring fort or promontory fort design appears to predate construction of brochs. In 1950, B.H. St.John O'Neil presented the view that the brochs were built to defend against Roman slave traders.{{sfn|Hamilton|1956|p=114}}}}

This ring fort and blockhouse existed before the other two forts in Whalsay, brochs that were built just before the 1st century AD started.{{sfn|Whalsay A thriving fishing community}}

Huxter was standing until the 19th century.{{sfn|The Shetland Blockhouse 1995|p=475}} When described in 1879, the fort was much less dilapidated than today.{{sfn|Turner|1998|p=66}}

File:Iron Age Fort, Loch of Huxter, Whalsay, Shetland - geograph.org.uk - 132089.jpg

Entry to the fort enclosure was across the causeway, then through a passageway with rooms on either side and with a doorway in the center.{{sfn|Turner|1998|p=66}} The entrance section is part of the main wall.{{sfn|Prehistoric Society|1965|p=102}}

This is similar to the blockhouse at Clickhimin. The passage is just {{convert|2.5|ft}} wide at its opening, and {{convert|3.5|ft}} at its inner end.{{sfn|Ministry of Public Building and Works|1968|p=58}} It has been conjectured that there may have been a two-story timber building built against the inner face of the fort. There is little structural evidence for this today.{{sfn|Fairhurst|Breeze|1984|p=38}} However, early accounts of the fort indicate that this may have been the case, and other forts show traces of what may have been internal stairways.{{sfn|Harding|2004|p=147}}

A ring wall runs around the islet, with a two-room blockhouse forming the defense opposite the causeway.{{sfn|Harding|2004|p=148}} The ring wall seems to have been built separately from the main structure.{{sfn|Fairhurst|Breeze|1984|p=38}} The blockhouse forms part of the ringwork, but is not bonded into the ring wall.{{sfn|Harding|2004|p=150}} The weaknesses in the defense of this and related structures could be explained by additional defenses of wood and thorn branches that have disappeared without leaving any trace. Another possibility is that the defenses were mainly symbolic, and perhaps played a part in warfare that was conducted according to formal rituals.{{sfn|Harding|2004|p=150}}

Notes

{{Notes}}

Citations

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

Sources

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1=Fairhurst|first1=Horace|last2=Breeze|first2=David John|title=Excavations at CrossKirk Broch, Caithness

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yB49sTIoNrMC&pg=PA38|access-date=4 February 2013

|year=1984|publisher=Society Antiquaries Scotland|isbn=978-0-903903-03-5}}

• {{cite journal |last=Hamilton|first=J. R. C. |title=Viking Congress, Lerwick, July 1950 (review) |volume=36 |issue=1–2 |date=April 1956

|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=A9EE4205AC2C3B94D485563514698FF5.journals?fromPage=online&aid=7860911

|journal=The Antiquaries Journal|access-date=4 February 2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/s000358150006073x|s2cid=163609245 |url-access=subscription}}

• {{cite book |last=Harding|first=Dennis William|title=The Iron Age in Northern Britain: Celts and Romans, Natives and Invaders

|url=https://archive.org/details/ironageinnorther0000hard|url-access=registration

|page=[https://archive.org/details/ironageinnorther0000hard/page/148 148]

|access-date=4 February 2013

|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-30149-7}}

• {{cite book|last=Henderson|first=Jon C.|title=The Atlantic Iron Age: Settlement and Identity in the First Millennium BC

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vaBk13fMIREC&pg=PA186|access-date=4 February 2013

|year=2007|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-43642-7}}

• {{cite book|author=Ministry of Public Building and Works|title=Archaeological Reports|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUZnAAAAMAAJ|access-date=4 February 2013

|year=1968|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office}}

• {{cite book|author=Prehistoric Society|title=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oxRAQAAIAAJ|access-date=6 February 2013|year=1965|publisher=The Society|page=102}}
• {{cite book |ref={{harvid|The Shetland Blockhouse 1995}}

|chapter=The Shetland Blockhouse|title=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZdnAAAAMAAJ|access-date=4 February 2013

|year=1995|publisher=Society}}

• {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Val|title=Ancient Shetland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZwrAQAAIAAJ|access-date=4 February 2013

|date=April 1998|publisher=B.T. Batsford|isbn=978-0-7134-8001-6|page=66}}

• {{cite web|ref={{harvid|Whalsay A thriving fishing community}}

|url=http://www.shetland-heritage.co.uk/downloads/resources/geographicleaflets/Whalsay.pdf|title=Whalsay A thriving fishing community

|access-date=4 February 2013|publisher=Heritage.co}}

{{refend}}

{{Whalsay}}

{{Prehistoric Shetland}}

Category:Forts in Scotland

Category:Whalsay