Friends and supporters of the Swandro & Environs project in Rousay, Orkney are celebrating the launch of the Swandro-Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust formally registered as a Scottish Charity (no. SC047002) on the 21st of November 2016. There are many sites in Orkney that are threatened by coastal erosion and the Atlantic coast of Rousay and the Westness area in particular is extremely vulnerable.
The immediate focus of the new charity will be to raise funds to support the excavation of the Knowe of Swandro, a multi-period archaeological site on the shore at Westness, Rousay, which is threatened with destruction by the Atlantic Ocean.
At the moment the excavation is run for a very short season of just 4 weeks, and since there’s a huge amount of work to do every year just removing the storm beach to get at the archaeology and then reinstating it to protect the site, that leaves only about 3 weeks actual useful digging time. Hence the need for urgent fundraising.
