Description

The monument is the remains of up to four barrows dating probably to the Bronze Age (between about 2000 and 800 BC). The barrows are visible as low, roughly circular, turf-covered earthen mounds situated at the intersection of three fields. The largest mound lies to the N: it measures 12.7m in diameter and survives to a height of 0.6m. The remains of another probable barrow lie immediately to the SE, marked by a low mound measuring 5m in diameter with a 2m-wide hollow at its centre. A third mound stands 20m to the SW, in the corner of the adjacent field, and measures 6.6m in diameter. Some 5m to its W are the remains of a fourth barrow, which is around 8m in diameter and stands 0.4m in height with a depression in the centre. Partial excavation of one of the barrows identified a surrounding kerb and recovered a broken ard share. The barrow cemetery at Knowes of Cuean lies at about 75m OD. The barrows occupy a broad ridge extending SE from Greeny Hill, with views towards the Loch of Sabiston 1km to the SW. The monument was first scheduled in 1937, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of all post-and-wire fences to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to understanding of burial and funerary practices in Bronze Age Orkney. Earthen barrows form an important and relatively widespread element of Orkney's Bronze Age landscape, and provide evidence for the major social and economic changes which took place during this period. The Knowes of Cuean are the best preserved surviving element of what was originally a larger barrow cemetery in this area, comprising some 17 barrows. They retain the potential to contain human remains and associated features: for instance, excavation of barrows within the cemetery at Sunnybrae, 220m to the SSW, indicated the presence of mortuary structures, as well as burials. Orkney's Bronze Age barrows are unusual in Scotland, and important within a British context, because the majority are earthen mounds as opposed to stone-built cairns. The significance of the surviving barrows at Knowes of Cuean is enhanced by their association with other barrows nearby and their place in the wider landscape of Bronze Age burial monuments located N of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. Our understanding of the form, function and distribution of Bronze Age barrows would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY32SW 3.

References

Ashmore, P J 2003, 'Orkney burials in the first millennium AD'. In Downes, J and Ritchie, A (eds) 2003, Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Later Iron Age, Balgavies: Angus, 35.

Downes, J 1994, 'Excavation of a Bronze Age burial at Mousland, Stromness, Orkney', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 124, 151.

Downes, J 1995, 'Linga Fold', Current Archaeology, 142, 396-399.

Downes, J 1997, The Orkney Barrows Project survey results and management strategy (unpubl rep to Historic Scotland: ARCUS, University of Sheffield).

Hedges, M E 1979, 'The excavation of the Knowes of Quoyscottie, Orkney: a cemetery of the early first millenium BC', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 108, 130-55.

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, 26-27, no 58.

Towrie, S 2013, 'The Knowes o' Trotty', http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/knowestrotty/> [accessed August 2013].

Source: Historic Environment Scotland