Description

The monument comprises the remains of a barrow cemetery, a group of burial mounds dating probably to the Bronze Age (between approximately 2000 and 800 BC). As many as six mounds have been recorded at this location in the past. They survive today as a group of four low bowl-shaped earthen mounds, varying in diameter from 6m to 10m and standing between 0.3m and 1m high. A possible fifth burial mound occurs approximately 10m S of the main group and is visible as a low ring, approximately 8m in diameter. The monument is located on the coast, within improved grassland, overlooking Eynhallow Sound and Rousay to the NE. The monument was first scheduled in 1936, 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 the understanding of burial and funerary practice in the Bronze Age. Earthen barrows form an important and relatively widespread element of Orkney's Bronze Age landscape. Despite some antiquarian investigations, and the possible reuse of the site as a signal stance, this barrow cemetery survives in reasonable condition, with four mounds clearly visible today. We know from the excavation of similar sites that these monuments are likely to contain important archaeological remains, including cists, burials, artefacts and associated material, such as the remains of funerary pyres. 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. Barrows provide evidence for the significant changes which took place in society and funerary practice in Bronze Age Orkney. The significance of this barrow cemetery is enhanced by its position on the coast overlooking Eynhallow Sound and Rousay to the NE and by its association with the wider prehistoric landscape, including similar burial mounds nearby. 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 HY32NE 18.

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).

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, 82, no 276.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland