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Stanesland,standing stone and burnt mound

A Scheduled Monument in Shetland West, Shetland Islands

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Coordinates

Latitude: 60.2235 / 60°13'24"N

Longitude: -1.6137 / 1°36'49"W

OS Eastings: 421503

OS Northings: 1148857

OS Grid: HU215488

Mapcode National: GBR Q1CQ.9CN

Mapcode Global: XHD2T.C9QC

Entry Name: Stanesland,standing stone and burnt mound

Scheduled Date: 20 February 1995

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM6159

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Prehistoric domestic and defensive: burnt mound; Prehistoric ritual and funerary: standing stone

Location: Walls and Sandness

County: Shetland Islands

Electoral Ward: Shetland West

Traditional County: Shetland

Description

The monument consists of two neighbouring elements: a standing stone and a burnt mound. Both are probably of Bronze Age date. The standing stone is approximately 2.2m tall, of grey sandstone. It is slab-sided, with the long axis E-W. It is set in a small cairn of stones, but this may be the result of the accumulation of field- gathered stones rather than an original feature. To the SW, about 20m away, is a burnt mound. This is crescentic on plan, and lies against the slope. It has a maximum height of 1.3m, and extends for about 15m along the edge of a small stream. Some field-gathered stone has been placed on it, but most of the mound is of small fire-reddened and cracked stones. The purpose of the standing stone is obscure: it may be of ritual significance or simply a boundary marker, but it is of sufficient antiquity to have given a name to the nearby croft. Burnt mounds are the by-product of boiling by immersion of heated stones in a trough of water. They are generally held to be prehistoric cooking places. The area to be scheduled is in two parts. A circular area 10m in diameter is centred on the standing stone, to include the stone, its setting and a small area around in which evidence relating to its date and method of erection may survive. A triangular area with sides of length 35m (NW), 55m (NE) and 60m (S) is centred on the burnt mound, and bounded on the S by the modern fence alongside the road, to include the burnt mound and an area around in which evidence relating to its accumulation and use may survive. These areas are marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as a very unusual association of a standing stone and a burnt mound, both monument types usually ascribed to the Bronze Age but seldom found together. The monument has the potential, through excavation and analysis, to provide information about the relative date of each element and their possible functional or symbolic inter-relationship.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HU24NW 11

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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