For a long time the upright stones in a field near the village of Braaid, Marown parish, Isle of Man, had been taken as the ruins of a prehistoric stone circle with two 'ceremonial avenues' (and therefore quite possibly a 'Druidic temple'), but excavations (see Fleure/Dunlop 1942, cf. Gelling 1964) showed them to be the remains of three houses – a roundhouse in Celtic building tradition (house 3), a large Norse style longhouse/hall with bowed walls (house 1) and a smaller rectangular house with straight walls, probably a byre (house 2). The ensemble was interpreted as a Viking Age/medieval farmstead. All three structures were found entirely empty of small finds, and it has been considered probable that a small rivulet running (and formerly meandering) through the site might have washed away any objects as well as the ancient top occupation layer. Thus both the dating of the structures and their chronological relationship is very hard to determine (cf. Steinforth 2015, 115-140).

The very similar condition of the three ruins today suggests that they were built and lived in at about the same time – in fact, the site is occasionally cited as a remakable example of settlement continuity (Wilson 2008, 96)  – a Celtic farm having been taken over by a Viking settler. However, whether this take-over was a peaceful process or a hostile one, and whether the houses had indeed been occupied simulateously in the first place, remains a mystery.

The site has open access and is under the care and protection of Manx National Heritage.

Further reading:

• Fleure, H[erbert] J./Dunlop, Margaret: Glendarragh Circle and Alignments, The Braaid, I.O.M. In: Antiquaries Journal 22, 1942, 39-53.
• Gelling, P[eter] S.: The Braaid Site. A Re-excavation of one of the Structures. In: Journal of the Manx Museum 6, 1964, 201-205.
• Johnson, Andrew: A View from the Hills – Some Thoughts on the Reoccupation of Promontory Forts and the Possible Origins of the Manx Farmstead. In: Proceedings of the Isle of Man History and Antiquarian Society 11:1, 2000, 51-66.
• Johnson, Andrew/Fox, Allison: A Guide to the Archaeological Sites of the Isle of Man up to AD 1500. Douglas 2017.
• Steinforth, Dirk H.: Die skandinavische Besiedlung auf der Isle of Man. Eine archäologische und historische Untersuchung zur frühen Wikingerzeit in der Irischen See (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 92). Berlin/Boston 2015.
• Wilson, David M.: The Vikings in the Isle of Man. Aarhus 2008.