Description

The monument comprises the remains of a group of barrows dating from the Bronze Age (between about 2000 and 800 BC). The barrows are visible as seven low-lying, sub-circular, mainly turf-covered, earthen mounds, spread over an area of 3.5 hectares. The two northernmost mounds measure 12m and 10m in diameter respectively and survive to a height of 0.4m; one small orthostat visible in the western mound of this pair probably indicates the remains of a cist. A single mound lies at the centre of the group, measuring 8m in diameter and standing 0.7m high, with a gently rounded top. Two adjacent mounds at the SE end of the group measure 8m and 6m, and survive to a height of 0.8m and 0.5m respectively. The sixth mound is on its own at the SW end of the group and measures 9.5m in diameter, surviving to a height of 0.6m. The seventh mound lies on its own in unimproved heather moorland some 130m to the NE of the group, and measures 13m in diameter. The monument occupies sloping ground 300m NE of the Bay of Isbister at around 15-25m above OD. The monument was first scheduled in 1938, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

There are five scheduled areas. The area around the N group is irregular on plan measuring a maximum of 65m E-W by 32m N-S; the areas around the central, SE and SW mounds are circular, measuring 28m, 32m, and 30m respectively in diameter; the area around the seventh mound to the NE of the group is a circle 30m in diameter. The scheduled areas 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 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 our understanding of funerary practice in the Bronze Age. 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. Orkney's barrows are unusual in Scotland, and important within a British context, because the majority are earthen mounds as opposed to stone-built cairns. The seven surviving barrows at Varme Dale retain their field characteristics to a marked degree and their significance is enhanced as a group of associated mounds probably forming part of a barrow cemetery. Limited archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of well-preserved mortuary structures and burials within at least two of the barrows and there is high potential for buried deposits to be preserved in the other mounds in this group. The significance of Varme Dale is enhanced by its association with other barrow mounds and Bronze Age sites on marginal land N of the Bay of Isbister. Our understanding of the dating, 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 HY41NW 2.

References

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

Downes, J 1998, 'Varme Dale, Gorn (Evie & Rendall parish), survey and excavation of burial mounds', Discovery Excav Scot, 70.

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, 83, no 283.

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland