Description

The monument comprises the remains of a prehistoric enclosure dating probably to the late Neolithic or Bronze Age (approximately second millennium BC). It is visible as a circular heather-covered bank of earth and stone, enclosing an area approximately 85m in diameter. The bank is 2m wide on average and stands 0.5m high around most of its circuit. There is no discernible entrance. The interior has a distinctive raised area at its centre. The monument occupies a level area of mainly rough grazing, with boggy peat in the NE third, at around 20m above sea level.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, measuring 100m in diameter, and includes 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 the 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 our understanding of prehistory, specifically, the construction and use of enclosures and prehistoric ceremony and ritual. This unusual enclosure survives to marked degree with its circular bank clearly visible around most of the circuit. Its position in the landscape and the nature of subsequent land-use mean that important archaeological and ecofactual deposits and features are highly likely to be preserved. It is located in an area rich in prehistoric burial and other monuments, suggesting that this may be a ritual or ceremonial site broadly contemporary with the nearby chambered cairns. Our understanding of the form and function of this monument type would be diminished if this enclosure was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY53NE 14.

References

Callander, J G 1935-6, 'Bronze Age urns of clay from Orkney & Shetland with a note on vitreous material called 'cramp'', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 70, 441-52.

Farrer, J 1859, 'Notes on the bronze and iron remains dug up in a "Pict's House", in the Holm of Eday, Orkney', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 2, 179.

Petrie, G 1927, 'Primeval antiquities of Orkney', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 5 (paper written 1859), 28.

Photos-Jones, E, Smith, B B, Hall, A J and Jones, R E 2007, 'On the intent to make cramp: An interpretation of vitreous seaweed cremation 'waste' from prehistoric burial sites in Orkney, Scotland', Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26, 1'23.

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, 63, no 235.

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, 16, no 57.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland