Description

The monument is a two-storeyed chambered cairn of Orkney-Cromarty type, dating from the Neolithic (probably between 3800 and 2500 BC). It survives as an inconspicuous, roughly circular mound approximately 10m in diameter, standing up to 0.6m above the ground. The monument in fact comprises two superimposed chambers of different types, the lower one of which is intact and entirely below ground, but the upper one is ruinous and fragmentary. The monument is situated on a gently sloping hillside at 20m above sea level, overlooking Calf Sound.

The cairn was excavated by Calder in 1936, which has left a hollow in the centre. The lower chamber is of Bookan type, while the few surviving edge-set slabs suggest that the upper chamber was probably tripartite. The chambers have separate entrance passages: the lower entrance passage faces E (downhill), while the upper passage faces W (uphill). The entrance passage to the lower chamber is approximately 3m long. The lower chamber was built in a hole dug into the clay subsoil and bedrock and entirely lined with well-built masonry of thin horizontally laid slabs. It measures around 4.5m x 2m and is aligned roughly NNE-SSW. At the entrance the height is 1.75m, but the floor drops sharply and it is about 2.10m high on the W side. The chamber has its main axis transversely to the passage which enters the middle of one long side. The chamber is divided into compartments at either end by two pairs of upright stones projecting from the walls and reaching almost to the roof. A third compartment faces the entrance, and a fourth has been squeezed in over the entrance. The roof is of massive flat lintels set across the chamber and the floor was partly levelled with blue clay. Little survives of the upper chamber, but four orthostats indicate that it was probably tripartite in type. The upper chamber was roughly rectangular and aligned W-E. It is estimated to have been 3.5m x 2m and was divided probably into three compartments. Part of the chamber was constructed over the roof slabs of the lower chamber. Only slight traces survive of the upper entrance passage. The monument was originally scheduled in 1936, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is rectangular on plan, measuring 45m E-W by 35m N-S, 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 it has inherent potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the past, in particular the chronology, design and construction of burial monuments, and the nature of belief systems and burial practices in Neolithic Orkney. Two-storeyed cairns are very rare and have the added potential to inform our understanding of the development sequence not only of this site, but also of different types of cairns in Orkney. Across Orkney, chambered cairns are an important component of the wider prehistoric landscape. They are often focal points and can inform our understanding of prehistoric land-use and social organisation. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our ability to appreciate and understand the treatment and importance of death and burial in prehistoric times and the placing of such monuments within the landscape.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Other information

RCAHMS records the site as HY53NE 1.

References

Calder, C S T 1938, 'Excavations of three Neolithic chambered cairns - one with an upper and a lower chamber - in the Islands of Eday and the Calf of Eday, in Orkney', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 72, 193-204.

Davidson, J L and Henshall, A S 1989, The chambered cairns of Orkney: an inventory of the structures and their contents, Edinburgh, 123-125, no 23.

Hedges, J W 1983, Isbister, a chambered tomb in Orkney, BAR British Series 115.

Henshall, A S 1963, The chambered tombs of Scotland, vol 1, Edinburgh, 203-205, no 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, 56-59, no 217.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland