Fig. 71.—Chapel on Brough of Deerness. Elevations.
The external length is equal to the diagonal of the square of the width. About 35 yards south of the chapel is a tank or well.
On the south edge of the brough are stones which appear to have once formed a wall, and at this point is the entrance from the “geo.”
Spread over the top of the brough are foundations of at least 18 huts. They are mostly parallelograms, of about 24 feet by 12 feet outside, and the walls 2 feet 6 inches and 3 feet thick. These were for the use of devotees who used this as a place of pilgrimage.
A survey of our coasts and lakes will show how strong a partiality existed in early times for selecting as sites for churches and monastic establishments small islands, isolated rocks, or promontories difficult of access—for instance, the two St. Michael’s Mounts, Lindisfarn, Iona, Ireland’s Eye, Inisfallen, &c. Nor was this taste for isolation peculiar to the coasts. We find throughout Europe, and, indeed, in the East also, numbers of peaks difficult of access, bearing such buildings. The brough of Deerness and the brough of Birsay are good examples.
CHAPEL ON THE NORTH SHORE OF HEAD OF HOLLAND.
This is situated within a few yards of the shore, and not many feet above water level. It is only a heap of ruins, but the measures are just ascertainable. It is a parallelogram, measuring 37 feet east and west by
Fig. 72.—Chapel near Shore of Head of Holland. Plan.