Description

The monument comprises the remains of at least ten barrows, forming part of a barrow cemetery dating probably to the Bronze Age (between about 2000 and 800 BC). All of the barrow mounds are roughly circular and they are aligned in a broadly N-S arrangement. They vary in diameter between 4m and 15m and are generally low, standing up to 0.5m maximum. The barrow cemetery is located on improved grassland on the SE shoulder of Kirbuster Hill at approximately 60m above sea level. The cemetery is sited midway between and overlooks Loch of Hundland to the E and Loch of Boardhouse to the W. The monument was first scheduled in 1937, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is an irregular polygon in shape, 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 a post-and-wire fence to allow for its 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 funerary practice in the Bronze Age. Earthen barrows form an important and relatively widespread element of Orkney's Bronze Age landscape. 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. They provide evidence of the significant changes which took place in society and funerary practice in Bronze Age Orkney. Although this site has suffered plough damage and erosion in the past, the surviving barrows retain their field characteristics to a reasonable degree and we know from excavation of similar sites that they are likely to contain important archaeological evidence. The buried remains are likely to include cists, skeletal material and ashes, as well as artefactual and environmental evidence for the design, construction and use of the barrows, and the nature of the contemporary local environment. The significance of this site is enhanced by its proximity to other barrows and barrow cemeteries in this part of Orkney Mainland. 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 HY22NE14.

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, 1976, 'The excavation of the Knowes of Quoyscottie, Orkney: a cemetery of the first millennium BC', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 108, 130-155.

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, 25-26, no 53.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland