Description

The monument is a burial mound dating probably to the Bronze Age (between about 2000 and 800 BC). It is visible as a circular mound measuring 12.5m in diameter and surviving to a height of approximately 1.2m. It is composed of sandy soil and stones, and its profile may have been altered by an accumulation of sand since it was originally sealed. Despite some earlier intrusion, the mound survives relatively intact. The mound is located on the N side of the Bay of London in Eday at around 10m above sea level, overlooking the bay and with wide views to the E towards Sanday. The monument was first scheduled in 1936, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan and measures 30m in diameter, 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.

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. Burial mounds and 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. This mound retains much of its original form and excavation of similar sites elsewhere in Orkney demonstrates that it has the potential to contain one or more burials and associated features. There is also the potential to compare this site with other with other types of prehistoric ritual and funerary monuments, and with broadly contemporary, settlement remains in Eday to enhance our understanding of the relationship between them and the placing of such monuments within the landscape. Our understanding of the dating, form, function and distribution of burial mounds would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY53SE 3.

References

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, 60, no 221.

RCAHMS 1984, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Eday and Stronsay, Orkney Islands Area, The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 23, Edinburgh, 10, no 13.

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland