Loch of Tankerness
Loch of Tankerness is a large, lowland, freshwater loch on the Orkney mainland in Scotland. The loch is roughly triangular in shape and is shallow with a flat bottom that gradually deepens from west to east. It lies approximately southeast of Kirkwall.
Archaeology and history
The remains of a broch stand on a short promontory on the southwest shore. It is thought that the broch is the Howie of the Manse.At the edge of the loch, on the eastern shore, is a burnt mound. Beside the mound is a Bronze Age structure that is presumed to be a house. It is in the form of erect slabs and a slab floor, forming an oval plan. When the loch's water level dropped during the drought of 1980, the house was further exposed and recorded. At that time archaeological artefacts were retrieved from the loch including the point of an early plough.
On the eastern shore is a filter room and pump house. It was originally built in the late 19th century and powered by an oil engine. The engine was replaced in the 1940s with a windpump.