Very little survives above ground of the broch (a tall circular tower of unmortared stone, found only in Scotland) that once stood on a shoulder of raised ground overlooking the Bay of Cuppa, on the east coast of Bressay. What the Iron Age (from about 800 BC until the Romans came) tower-builders raised here was largely dismantled long before anyone thought to record it, its stones carried off to build the church of St Mary that later stood nearby, itself now ruined.
Very little survives above ground of the broch that once stood on a shoulder of raised ground overlooking the Bay of Cuppa, on the east coast of Bressay. What the Iron Age tower-builders raised here was largely dismantled long before anyone thought to record it, its stones carried off to build the church of St Mary that later stood nearby, itself now ruined.
The broch’s afterlife as a quarry is, in a sense, the reason the site is remembered at all: the settlement and cemetery that grew up around St Mary’s Church became, in 1852, the findspot of the Bressay Stone, a Pictish memorial slab whose ogham inscription has drawn scholarly attention since the 1850s. The broch itself left little trace, but the ground it once occupied kept generating history for another thousand years.
Today the site is protected as a Scheduled Monument, its physical remains reduced to fragments while the objects and questions it produced — a robbed-out tower, a lost church, an inscribed stone now in Edinburgh — outlast the stonework itself.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
During the Iron Age, a broch was raised on elevated ground above the Bay of Cuppa on Bressay, one of the tower-like drystone structures characteristic of Shetland and the wider Atlantic Scottish coast. Little is recorded of its construction or period of use, and almost nothing of the structure survives today. At some later date the broch was robbed of its stone, which was very likely used to build the church of St Mary nearby. That church, now itself a ruin, had an associated settlement and cemetery grow up around it, effectively continuing the site's occupation long after the broch had ceased to stand as a tower.
In 1852 the Pictish Bressay Stone was found near St Mary's Church. It is an upright slab of schist carved with relief designs on its two broad faces and ogham inscriptions cut into its narrow sides, generally read as a memorial commemorating the daughter of a chieftain. On 6 April 1853 the antiquarian Edward Charlton read a paper on the Bressay ogham inscription before the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; it was published in 1855 in the society's journal Archaeologia Aeliana, putting the stone's inscription before a wider scholarly audience within a few years of its discovery.
The Bressay Stone was subsequently removed to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where it remains on display. A replica now stands in its stead within the cemetery at Bressay, and the broch site itself has since been designated a Scheduled Monument under record HU54SW 6.
People
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Edward Charlton
Antiquarian who read a paper on the Bressay Stone's ogham inscription before the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 6 April 1853, published in Archaeologia Aeliana in 1855.
Cultural influences
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Later reuse of the broch site
The broch’s stone is thought to have been reused in the nearby medieval St Mary’s Church, and the churchyard and settlement developed beside the earlier tower. The surviving place therefore brings an Iron Age monument into direct contact with Bressay’s later Christian landscape.
Connections
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St Mary's Church, Bressay
A now-ruined church thought to have been built from stone robbed from the broch, with an associated settlement and cemetery.
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Bressay Stone
A Pictish carved and ogham-inscribed memorial stone found near St Mary's Church in 1852; now held in the National Museum of Scotland, with a replica standing in the cemetery.
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National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Current home of the original Bressay Stone, found at this site.
Discovery & excavation
The Bressay Stone was found near St Mary's Church in 1852. Its ogham inscription was studied and presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne by Edward Charlton in April 1853, with his findings published in 1855. The stone was later moved to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and a replica was placed in the cemetery at Bressay in its stead.
Finds now held at: St Mary's Church cemetery, Bressay.
What to look for
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The elevated broch site
The broch stood on raised ground overlooking the Bay of Cuppa on the east coast of Bressay; very little of the structure remains visible above ground.
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The ruins of St Mary's Church
A ruined church, likely built using stone mined from the broch, standing with its associated settlement and cemetery.
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The replica Bressay Stone
A replica of the Pictish ogham-inscribed Bressay Stone stands in the cemetery, marking the spot near where the original was found in 1852; the original is held in the National Museum of Scotland.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 60.1619°N · 1.0632°W
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Moderate walking
- Time needed
- About 90 minutes
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Questions people ask
- What is the Broch of Cullingsburgh?
- It is an Iron Age broch on the island of Bressay in Shetland, of which very little survives above ground today.
- Where is the Broch of Cullingsburgh located?
- It sits on elevated ground on the east coast of Bressay, off the east coast of mainland Shetland, overlooking the Bay of Cuppa.
- What happened to the stone from the broch?
- The broch was largely dismantled, and its stone is believed to have been used to build the later church of St Mary nearby.
- What is the Bressay Stone and where is it now?
- The Bressay Stone is a Pictish schist slab with relief carving and ogham inscriptions, found near St Mary's Church in 1852. It is now displayed in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, with a replica standing in the cemetery at Bressay.
- Is the site protected?
- Yes, the Broch of Cullingsburgh is recorded by Historic Environment Scotland as a Scheduled Monument (site no. HU54SW 6).
Sources
- Wikipedia: Broch of Cullingsburgh
- Historic Environment Scotland, Bressay, Cullingsburgh (Site no. HU54SW 6)
- Charlton, E. (1855) 'On the ogham inscription from the island of Bressay, Shetland, 1853', Archaeologia Aeliana, 1st series, vol. 4: 150-156
- Geograph photo and description of the Broch of Cullingsburgh
Explore more: Fortified places · Iron Age · Shetland Islands
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