Description

The monument is the remains of three Bronze Age barrows dating probably to the Bronze Age (between about 2000 BC and 800 BC). The barrows are visible as three circular, turf-covered earthen mounds, arranged in a line orientated NNW-SSE. The N mound is about 60m distant from the central mound, which is some 85m away from the S mound. The N mound is the largest of the three, measuring 18m in diameter and standing up to 1.8m. The central and S mounds both measure around 16m in diameter and stand about 0.3m high, but they have been reduced and spread by ploughing. The monument occupies sloping ground on the SW face of Gorseness Hill at around 20-25m above OD. The monument was first scheduled in 1936, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduling comprises three separate scheduled areas. The area around the N mound is circular, measuring 36m in diameter, truncated on its western edge to exclude the fence. The areas around the central and S mounds are also circular, each 36m in diameter. These three areas 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 and a concrete water tank adjacent to the S mound, 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 our understanding of funerary practices in the Bronze Age. Earthen barrows form an important and relatively widespread element of Orkney's Bronze Age landscape. Sandyhall preserves three barrows of larger than average size, one of which (Mound A) is well preserved and appears undisturbed. The significance of the site is enhanced because this group of mounds probably formed part of a larger barrow cemetery originally. Limited archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of a well-preserved cist and human remains within one of the barrows and there is high potential for buried deposits to be preserved in the other mounds of the group. Orkney's barrows are unusual in Scotland, and important within a British context, as the majority are earthen mounds as opposed to stone-built cairns. The Bronze Age period saw a move away from the construction of large monumental structures housing communal burials over an extended timeframe, towards more dispersed communities and individual burial in barrows and barrow cemeteries. The significance of Sandyhall is enhanced by its association with other barrow mounds and Bronze Age sites on marginal land N of the Bay of Isbister. Our understanding of the dating, 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 HY31NE 7.

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).

Hedges, M E 1981, 'Short cists recently excavated at Lower Ellibister and other locations in Orkney', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 110, 44-71.

Hedges, M E 1979, 'The excavation of the Knowes of Quoyscottie, Orkney: a cemetery of the early first millenium BC', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 108, 130-55.

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 280.

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland