Description

The monument comprises the remains of a near-circular burial cairn of Orkney-Cromarty type, with a tripartite chamber and associated features. Prior to excavation the monument appeared as a mound with five protruding stones. In 1938 it was substantially excavated by its then owner, W.G. Grant; no excavation records have survived.

The footprint of the cairn is almost circular. The cairn measures between 11.3 m and 12.5 m in diameter, with some distortion of the outline caused by quarrying on the NE side prior to excavation. Two concentric wall faces are visible, c.1m apart. The outer face survives to a maximum height of 0.3m; the less prominent inner face survives mainly on the S side of the cairn. Access to the chamber is from the SE through a passage measuring 1.1m long by 0.6m wide.

The passage had been blocked in antiquity by a large stone set flush to the outer facade. The inner end of the passage is marked by two portal stones, 0.6m apart. The chamber measures 4.8m long by 2.1m wide (maximum) and contains three compartments separated by upright, paired slabs. The innermost compartment is 1.7m long, the central compartment 1.8 m long and the outer compartment 1m long.

The compartment walls comprise up to five courses of masonry and stand up to 0.5m high. The pairs of orthostats between the compartments stand between 0.6m and 1.2m high.

The sidewalls of the innermost chamber converge towards a massive single central orthostat, standing 1m high. Pairs of upright slabs at right angles to both sides of the innermost compartment are thought to represent supports for low benches or shelves.

The 1928 excavations recovered a small assemblage of artefacts including Neolithic pottery sherds and worked flints. Outwith the cairn, excavation of a shallow clay-lined, ash-filled hollow produced burnt bone, worked flints and a few small sherds.

A continuous bank c.0.75m high by 3.5m wide, and a shallow ditch c.0.5 m deep by up to 1m across, encircle the tomb.

The area to be scheduled is a circle of 40m diameter centred on the cairn, to include the chamber and cairn, the encircling ditch and bank, and an area around in which evidence for the construction and primary and secondary uses of the monument may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the remains of a well-preserved chambered tomb of Orkney-Cromarty type. Although excavated in 1938, the monument retains considerable potential to provide important information about Neolithic burial and ceremonial practice in and around the tomb. The enclosing bank also has high potential to reveal important information about the pre-excavation ground surface beneath it.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY 43 SW 13.

References:

Barber, J. (1992) 'Megalithic architure', in Sharples, N and Sheridan, A. (eds) Vessels for the ancestors. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 13-32.

Davidson, J. L. and Henshall, A. S. (1989) The chambered tombs of Orkney. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 101-2.

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

MacSween, A. (1997) 'The pottery' in Barber J (ed) The excavation of a stalled cairn at the Point of Cott, Westray, Orkney. Edinburgh: STAR Monograph 1, 27-29.

Renfre, C. (1979) Investigations in Orkney. London: Rep Res Comm Soc Antiq London 38.

RCAHMS (1946) Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Inventory of the Monuments of Orkney, 204.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland