St. Mary's Church and churchyard

Heritage listing

Date Added 28/12/1953 Last Date Amended 10/02/2003 Type Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church, Prehistoric domestic and defensive: broch Local Authority Shetland Islands Parish Bressay NGR HU 52110 42301 Coordinates 452110, 1142301 — The monument comprises the remains of St Mary's Church and burial ground, and a prehistoric broch (defensive tower) immediately adjacent, all sited on a small promontory at Cullinsburgh, Bressay. The broch was first scheduled in 1934 and St Mary's Church in 1953, but inadequate areas were included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present re-scheduling rectifies this. In addition, given the close proximity of the two monuments, the two scheduled areas are being combined into one. The church appears to date from the medieval period and may have been dedicated to St Mary. It is the only medieval cruciform church to have been identified in Shetland so far, although the transepts may have been later additions to the usual arrangement of rectangular nave and chancel. By 1930 the S transepts had been demolished and most of the other walling was represented by a drystone dyke. Older masonry can be observed both in the E end and in the N transept gable. Sometime during the 19th century, a Pictish cross-slab with an ogham inscription was found near the church, perhaps within the churchyard. The cross-slab now resides in the National Museum of Scotland. The rectangular churchyard is demarcated by a drystone wall, which traverses a large stony mound at its NW corner. This is almost certainly the remains of a broch, a defensive stone-built tower dating probably from the Iron Age, sometime between 500 BC and AD 500. Three-quarters of the broch mound lies outwith the graveyard dyke, and one-quarter within it. No remai

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.