Some Shetland brochs and standing stones

(Being the Chalmers-Jervise Prize Essay for the year 1911)

Abstract

Standing stones, or the remains of them, are to be found in almost every parish. The majority are roughly fashioned into a sort of slab, although some of them exhibit no distinct formation of this kind. Their number is uncertain and they occur on hills and in valleys. Descriptions and sketches of a number of individual stones are provided along with some local traditions linked to them. There are approximately eighty brochs in Shetland, a small number of which have been excavated. The morphological characteristics of a selection of brochs are described and illustrated.