As with much of Shetland, Skaw, in the northeast corner of Unst, is a multi-period landscape in all probability spanning much of the last six thousand years. We readily see this at the wheelhouse eroding out high up on the cliff toward the north end of the beach at the Wick of Skaw. 

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It first came to our attention when Alan Small investigated a reported peat ash midden eroding out which also produced Iron Age pottery. Later, in 1969, an Ordnance Survey visit failed to locate the midden but did note 16m of drystone walling was now exposed. Finally, in 1972 Cpl Ray Mitchell and six men from RAF Saxa Vord excavated what remained of the site labelling it the most northerly prehistoric house found in the UK.

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To their credit, they recorded the site very well and recognised their finds possibly spanned from the Bronze Age through to the Medieval period. Although the handwritten excavation report was never published, we still retain a copy here in Shetland. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of most of the excavation material is unknown.

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However, in 2023 a single modest box from the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh arrived at the Shetland Museum storage facility simply labelled as an Iron Age site at Skaw. Inside was a spread of artefacts from the Neolithic (felsite flakes, two felsite cores and a felsite scraper) through to the Medieval (carved fishing weight) and on to the 20th century. The most unique find from an Iron Age context was a barrel-shaped object of steatite 5cm long with a swirl pattern on one end and hashmarks on the other. After some research, the latter is possibly a singular object with no parallel and for an unknown use.

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As to the structure, a recent visit does firmly establish it as a wheelhouse therefore of late Iron Age date. Of the three visible piers, the centre is clearly a poorly done rebuild with only the two lowest courses of stone still likely in situ. The most telling is the southern pier which appears to be little disturbed and where the corbelling to create a cell is visible along with an orthostat at the end of the pier and integration into the fabric of the outer wall.

 

It was a modestly sized wheelhouse, probably of average size for Shetland at about 5m in diameter. It is also just one of several phases of activity on this site built up like a palimpsest as we see all over Shetland during its six thousand years of occupation.

 

It is for these reasons it is one of my favourite places.

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