Publication Account
Date 1997
Event ID 1017147
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017147
Its remote situation has ensured that this tomb survives in excellent condition; it was built on the top of Muckle Ward at 90m OD, and the stiff climb to reach it is rewarded in clear weather by superb view over a beautiful area of Shetland. This is a heelshaped cairn with a smoothly curving facade of excellent dry stone walling, including very large stones at the base, which survives to a height of 1.2m. There is no entrance through the facade, and this outer part of the cairn appears to have been built as a platform round a circular, originally domed cairn enclosing the burial chamber. A passage aligned on the centre of the facade leads into a roughly trefoil-shaped chamber, now unroofed and ruinous, although its walling is visible.
The island is also remarkable for the First World War gun emplacements on Swarbacks Head (no. 1). At Vementry farm on the mainland there is a well preserved horizontal mill (HU 311597) .
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland’, (1997).
