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Papers of Robert Innes Shearer, factor, antiquarian and naturalist, Thrumster, Caithness, Scotland

551 255

Description Papers of Robert Innes Shearer, factor, antiquarian and naturalist, Thrumster, Caithness, Scotland

Date 1871

Collection Papers of Robert Innes Shearer, factor, antiquarian and naturalist, Thrumster, Caithness, Scotland

Catalogue Number 551 255

Category All Other

Scope and Content A collection of survey drawings of archaeological monuments in Caithness: No. 1 Thrumster Broch Old Garden 1871; No. 2 broch at Thrumster; No. 47 Thrumster burnt mound; No.3 broch mound at Borrowston; No.4 broch mound at Gansclet; No. 12 Cairn of Elsay, Staxigoe; No.13 The Pap, Hillhead; No. 14 Cairn of Humster; No. 15 burnt mound, Humster; No.17 broch mounds at Tannach Mains; No.49 Cairnquoy; No. 21 Brounaban long cairn; No. 45 a burnt mound at Brounaban; No.48 a standing stone at Gansclet; Nos. 43 and 44 two mounds on Ackergill Links; Hill o’ Many Stanes, Clyth.

Archive History No formal accession record has yet been identified.

Access Conditions Open, but note that access may be subject to conservation requirements. Please contact the archive to confirm access in advance of a visit.

Administrative History Born 8 November 1826 at Upper Thrumster, Caithness. His father, a grieve, later became the tenant of Ulbster Mains. As a young man Robert presumably worked the farm with his father, but by 1866 he had become factor of the Thrumster estate, and by 1871 was styled estate agent. He first appearance in antiquarian record is in 1853 when he assisted Henry Rhind in his excavation of the chambered cairns on Warehouse Hill. He also took an interest in natural history, between 1859 and 1867 publishing a series of letters in the John o'Groats Journal on the wildlife of Caithness. Shearer also served as chairman of the Ulbster and Thrumster Subscription Library. In the 1860s Shearer became acquainted with the antiquarian Joseph Anderson: between c1865 and 1869, they excavated twelve chambered cairns around Loch of the Yarrows and Camster, explored the stone rows and cairn at Garrywhin, a burnt mound at Brounaban, and excavated brochs at Loch of the Yarrows and Brounaban. Shearer also compiled a series of measured drawings of the monuments of the area, apparently created with an eye to compilation of an inventory of archaeological sites, a project, however, that was not to be completed. Only one of these is dated, No1 Thrumster Broch Old Garden 1871. In August of that year he assisted Sir Henry Dryden during his visit to Caithness: several of Dryden's plans bear Shearer's initials, indicating that he had assisted in the surveywork. He died, aged 45, on 21 February 1872 at Thrumster Cottage. Derived from S P Halliday, Robert Innes Shearer: a lost antiquary from Caithness, in F Hunter and A Sheridan (eds), Ancient Lives (2016).

Accruals No further accruals are expected.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1176554

Collection Hierarchy - Collection Level

Collection Level (551 255) Papers of Robert Innes Shearer, factor, antiquarian and naturalist, Thrumster, Caithness, Scotland

Preview Category Catalogue Number Title Date Level
On-line Digital Images On-line Digital Images DP 008136 Digital image of pen and wash illustration of plan of long cairn at Oliquoy , labelled 'No. 21'; scale 1 inch to 8 feet [1:96] c. 1871 Item Level
On-line Digital Images On-line Digital Images DP 090944 Pen and wash illustrations of section across Thrumster Mains broch (scale 4 feet to 1 inch [1:48]) and section, viewed from W, across broch and the mound on which it sits in 1871(scale 20 feet to 1 inch [1:240]). 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44304 Pen and wash illustration of section across broch (scale 4 feet to 1 inch [1:48]), viewed from S c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44303 Pen and wash illustration of section across an unidentified mound, possibly natural (scale 3 feet to 1 inch [1:36]), viewed from S. c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44305 Pen and wash illustration of a section (No. 15) across a burnt mound (ND34NE 43) (scale 10 feet to 1 inch [1:120]), and another (No. 14) across a broch (ND34NE 3), same scale. c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44302 Pen and wash illustration of sections across Borrowston broch (ND34SW 8) and a probable broch at Gansclet (ND34SW 7). The section across the Borrowston broch, labelled 'No. 3' is at a scale of 10 feet to 1 inch [1:120]) and is viewed from the S; the section across the Gansclet broch, labelled 'No. 4', is at a scale of 6 feet to 1 inch [1:72]. c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44306 Pen and wash illustration of sections across Tannach broch (ND34NW 5) and the broch at Cairnquoy (ND34NW 6). The section across the Tannach broch, labelled 'No. 17' is at a scale of 1 inch to 6 feet [1:72]) and is viewed from the S; the section across the Cairnquoy broch, labelled 'No. 49', is at a scale of 1 inch to 3 feet [1:36] and is viewed from the WSW. c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44307 Pen and wash illustration of plan of long cairn at Oliquoy (ND34SW 31), labelled 'No. 21'; scale 1 inch to 8 feet [1:96] c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44308 Pen and wash illustration of a section through a burnt mound (ND34SW 35), labelled 'No. 45'; scale 1 inch to 4 feet [1:48] c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44309 Pen and wash illustration of the profile of the standing stone at a scale of 2 feet to 1 inch [1:24] c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44310 Pen and wash illustration of the profiles of the two mounds on Ackergill Links. One profile is labelled 'No. 43' and is drawn at a scale of 1 inch to 4 feet [1:48]; it probably represents the mound ND35NW 9. The other profile, labelled 'No. 44', is drawn at a scale of 1 inch to 6 feet [1:72]; it represents an otherwise unrecorded site that was situated about 65m S of No. 1. c. 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44311 Pencil illustration of two doors within an unidentified building; drawn at a scale of 1 inch to 2 feet [1:24]. Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44312 Pencil illustration on blue ruled paper of the profile of a sleigh. Not to scale. Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44313 Pencil plan of unidentified stone rows. Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44314 Two pencil plans; one of the fields, public road and farm track around the farmstead of Upper Thrumster (ND 3398 4554), the other of the fields, public road and part of the boundary of Hempriggs Estate (ND 344 458). Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44300 Pen and wash illustrations of section across Thrumster Mains broch (scale 4 feet to 1 inch [1:48]) and section, viewed from W, across broch and the mound on which it sits (scale 20 feet to 1 inch [1:240]). 1871 Item Level
Prints and Drawings DC 44301 Pen and wash illustrations of section (No. 2) across broch the ND34NW 2 (scale 1 inch to 3 feet [1:36]) and section, viewed from N, across broch and the mound on which it sits (scale 20 feet to 1 inch [1:240]), and section (No. 47) across burnt mound (ND34NW 83), scale 8 feet to 1 inch [1:96] The rear of the illustration bears a pencil plan of the broch at a scale of 6 feet to 1 inch [1:72] and a schematic section (reconstruction?) across the broch at the same scale. c. 1871 Item Level

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