Description

The monument comprises two adjacent mounds, thought to be the remains of chambered tombs, and the ground between them.

The two mounds lie 16m apart and are located on a terrace overlooking the head of a narrow poorly-drained glen. The two grass-covered mounds differ in profile, structure and dimensions. The eastern mound is steep-sided and flat-topped with a broad, shallow hollow at the centre. It is sub-circular in shape, between 9m and 11m in diameter, and stands c.1m high. In early descriptions (1935), the E mound was described as having a stony core. Several slabs protrude from the edge of the hollow and may represent divisional slabs within the tomb chamber. This mound may have been truncated on its NW side by a modern track.

The western mound has a less distinct profile but is a more regular circle, measuring approximately 13m in diameter. A series of recumbent slabs lie on the mound, forming a circle c.9m in diameter, almost concentric to the outer edge of the mound. The upper surface of the mound appears to have been disturbed in the past, but at least two upright slabs protruding from its slightly domed surface may represent divisional slabs of a tomb chamber.

The area to be scheduled is a rectangle, c.55m NW-SE by 34m NE-SW, to include the whole of both mounds, the ground between them and an area extending at least 10m out from their outer edges, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. The surface of the track to the NE of the area is excluded to allow for its maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the upstanding remains of two early prehistory chambered tombs. Although somewhat degraded, both tombs retain the potential to provide important information about early prehistoric burials and ritual activity.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY 43 SW 9.

References:

Davidson, J. L. and Henshall, A. S. (1989) The chambered cairns of Orkney: an inventory of the structures and their contents, Edinburgh, 172-3, nos. 58, 59.

Lamb, R. G. (1982) 'The archaeological monuments of Scotland, 16, Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre', RCAHMS, 15.

RCAHMS (1946) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 204, No. 564.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland