Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has awarded £21,000 to Wessex Archaeology and Dendrochronicle to carry out further research of the Sanday Wreck, an intact section of shipwreck timbers uncovered on Sands o’Erraby earlier this year. The funding will support in-depth analysis of the wreck including dating, reporting and archiving to help shed light on this remarkable discovery. 

Susan O’Connor, Head of Grants at Historic Environment Scotland (HES), said: 

“The wreck on Sanday is an incredible and rare finding, providing an exciting opportunity to study and preserve a unique facet of Orkney’s past. We’re thrilled to be supporting the work of Wessex Archaeology as they carry out this work, whilst also providing a rare opportunity to engage local and wider audiences with marine archaeology.” 

In February, winter storms and coastal erosion revealed the shipwreck on a beach in Sanday, Orkney. The section of wooden hull measuring 8 x 5 m and weighing around 10 tons had become exposed within intertidal sands, catching the attention of the local community who alerted the authorities. HES commissioned Wessex Archaeology who undertook rapid assessment and recording of the wreck. They also worked with Dendrochronicle, an organisation that specialises in dendrochonology (a dating technique that utilises tree rings to provide precise dating and provenance information for historic timber) for archaeology, to sample 19 timbers from the wooden wreck. 

Initial recovery works of the Sanday wreck in February this year. © Wessex Archaeology

In September, the wreck was carefully transferred into a freshwater conservation tank funded by the National Heritage Memorial Fund with the help of Wessex Archaeology’s marine specialists and members of Orkney Island Council’s Culture Team.  

Thanks to HES funding, over the coming months the historic timber specialists at Dendrochronicle will undertake dendrochronological assessment then analysis of the tree-ring samples. It is hoped that this will provide precise dating evidence for the vessel and provide clues as to where the ship was built. 

Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal & Marine specialists will take the initial results of the dating and provenance of the timbers and conduct further study to establish what the timbers can reveal about the development of shipbuilding during a time when large sailing vessels were the pinnacle of technological advancement, regarded as the most complex technology societies were producing. 

Working with community researchers and the Sanday Heritage Centre the project will look at the archive material relating to wrecks in Orkney to better understand the overall resource and bring together an island-centric archive of wrecks. 

This work will be crucial for identifying the significance of the wreck, including where it came from, when it was built and what it can tell researchers about the networks of maritime trade and exchange which flowed through and around Orkney and connected the islands to the world. 

Senior Marine Archaeologist from Wessex Archaeology, Ben Saunders, said: 

“The opportunity to complete dendrochronological dating and further research on this incredible piece of Orkney’s history is extremely exciting. It could allow us to identify the ship and its origin, adding to our understanding of the complex maritime connections within the North Sea. We look forward to working with researchers in Sanday and at Dendrochronicle to write a new part of the island’s story”