| 1016345 |
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On the gentle south-eastern slopes of Kirbuster Hill is a fine group of at least ten barrows, mostly 6m to 9m in diameter, none of which has been excavated. This is one of several barrow cemeteries in the area. Another is visible from the A987 on the west side of the Loch of Boardhouse, on the very lowest slope of Ravie Hill, where eight mounds can be seen between the road and the loch. It is clear from the hollows in their crests that they have suffered from the 19th-century preoccupation with opening barrows, but the ninth, behind the modern house of Queenafiold, was excavated in the 1960s. The earthen mound had a rough kerb of small stones at its perimeter and a central cist (now rebuilt beside the house); buried in the cist were the cremated remains of an adult male, and adult female and a deer. together with some of the charcoal from the funeral pyre, a sherd of pottery and a stone disc. [...] |
1996 |
| 1016383 |
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Like the burnt mound at Liddle (no. 59), the Isbister tomb is owned, and indeed was excavated, by the farmer, Mr R Simison, and there is a small display of finds at the farm, where visitors will be directed or taken to the tomb. The cairn is oval, though its shape is somewhat obscured by later additions, and the entrance to the chamber faces out to sea; the tomb is now quite close to precipitous cliffs and, even allowing for erosion, its situation must always have been spectacular. [...] |
1996 |
| 1016198 |
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The original tower was built in 1802 as an unlit beacon and converted into a revolving light in 1806, but it was rebuilt in brick in 1870. T he tower is just Start Point lighthouse, Sanday, by W Daniell, 1821 Dennis Head lighthouses, North Ronaldsay over 22 m high and the light was made automatic in 1962. The original keepers ' accommodation admired by Sir WaIter Scott has survived in good ondition alongside the towers; the proportions and overall design of the house and the original tower were particularly fine. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the modern lighthouse is the distinctive marking that the tower was given in the early 20th century, when it was painted with wide vertical stripes of black and white, making it impossible in the daytime to confuse the lighthouse with any other. [...] |
1996 |
