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Visitor walks among stone walls and hearth of an Iron Age broch settlement
Shetland Islands

Scatness Broch

An Iron Age village, dug and explained

Welcome

Unlike most brochs, this one has been excavated and interpreted.

Shetland Amenity Trust runs the site, and guides walk you through what was found and what it means.

One feature is gone from view: a ditch four metres deep once cut round the broch and its village. A small carved bear came out of the dig here, which is a puzzle, because bears have never lived in Shetland.

Round the cornerOld ScatnessAn Iron Age village found by accident while building the airport road.1 min by roadSee itA reconstructed Iron Age house at Old Scatness, its turf roof and doorway, a cooking pot outside.
Before you go
How long
Three quarters of an hour to an hour and a half
Cost
Free to walk in
Getting there
Park at the site.
When
Open land, at any hour and any month.
Dogs
Dogs welcome, under control.
Where it is

At Scatness in the South Mainland, near the airport.

Close byThe rest of Shetland, near at hand.
  1. The stone walls and low passage of the Ness of Burgi blockhouse on its grassy headland.Ness of BurgiAn Iron Age block fort on a narrow headlandUnder a mile2 min by road
  2. The round walls of a wheelhouse below the laird's house, Jarlshof.JarlshofFour thousand years of settlement at Shetland’s southern tip, one layer on another.1 mile2 min by road
  3. The long thatched Crofthouse Museum and its stone dykes under a blue sky.Crofthouse MuseumA thatched croft house of the 1870s at Boddam in the South Mainland, with its peat fire and box beds; free, and open in summer.3 miles5 min by road
  4. Geese flying over Sumburgh Head, the lighthouse on the skyline.Sumburgh Head LighthouseA Stevenson light on the cliff, with puffins below.3 miles8 min by road
  5. Red foghorn atop a white lighthouse building overlooking the seaSumburgh Head3 miles8 min by road
Directions
A reconstructed Iron Age house at Old Scatness, its turf roof and doorway, a cooking pot outside.AttractionsOld ScatnessA step away
The sweep of sand round the Bay of Quendale beyond a green field.AttractionsQuendale Beach1.6 miles over the water
Quendale Mill's stone buildings and water wheel round a gravel yard.AttractionsQuendale Mill2.0 miles over the water
Grey seals hauled out on the pale sand at Rerwick, the sea at the edge.AttractionsRerwick and Scousburgh Sands5.9 miles
The pale sand and breaking waves of Levenwick bay, green headlands on either side.AttractionsLevenwick7.2 miles
The white sand tombolo curving out to St Ninian's Isle, the sea on both sides.AttractionsSt Ninian’s Isle7.9 miles
High cliffs rising from a deep blue sea across the bay from Maywick.AttractionsMaywick10 miles
The blue and white front of the Hoswick Visitor Centre on the village street.AttractionsHoswick Visitor Centre12 miles
Mousa Broch across the sound, seen from the water on the way over from Sandsayre.AttractionsSandsayre Interpretive Centre13 miles
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