Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016371
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016371
Though not an easy walk, the reward is a tomb in excellent condition and, on a clear day, a beautiful view over the Bay of Firth. This is another Maes Howe design and, as at Quoyness (no. 84), all three wall-faces are visible, representing the various stages of construction of the cairn. The chamber with its three side-cells is dug back into the hillside and the entrance is downslope (although entry is now through a hatch in the roof, the original passage being only 0.6m high). Excavation in the 19th century found the cells to be empty, although the main chamber has been deliberately filled with rubble.
On the northern lower slope of Wideford at Quanterness (HY 417129), there is a large mound which, though inaccessible, contains a magnificent tomb of Maes Howe design, with six cells opening off the main chamber. Recent excavation of 80% of the tomb (the rest left deliberately for posterity) yielded human bones estimated to belong to 157 individuals, who had been brought into the tomb in skeletal state as at Isbister (no. 85). Unlike Wideford the tomb had not been closed by infilling. Radiocarbon dates indicate that Quanterness was built around 3400 BC and remained in use for about a thousand years.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
