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Measured Survey

Date July 1980

Event ID 1112639

Category Recording

Type Measured Survey

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1112639

The complex of cairns and enclosures on Tofts Ness, Sanday is the most extensive and best preserved example of this type to survive on North Ronaldsay or Sanday. Agriculture has recently encroached on its W and S sections, and modern land-clearance and rabbit-burrowing threaten further damage. This survey, which was undertaken in July 1980 by Mr J B Stevenson and Mr A J Leith of RCAHMS with the assistance of Dr R G Lamb, includes only the NE part of the ness, where the remains are best preserved and at greatest risk; it is intended that the survey of the whole area will be completed in the future with a more detailed discussion of the sites than is possible here.

The complex comprises three large mounds; more than 300 small cairns; one long mound; a series of enclosure banks; at least one enclosure; and miscellaneous recent features.

The large round mounds (1-3; HY 7618 4730, HY 7610 4683, HY 7620 4678) measure from 26m to 33m in diameter and up to 2.8m in height, and are composed of a mixture of sand and stones. They are probably prehistoric burial-cairns, but there is nothing to indicate whether they are chambered or not. Both chambered and unchambered round cairns have been found in association with small cairns in Orkney, e.g. at Elsness, Sanday (RCAHMS 1980, Nos. 7-8) and at Knowes of Trotty, Mainland (RCAHMS 1946, ii, 29-31, No. 73), and although these three mounds are larger than the majority of the Orkney Bronze Age cairns their size alone cannot be used as an indicator of their date. All three have secondary structures built on top of them; 1 and 2 are capped by stone-walled enclosures of relatively recent date, and at 2 and 3 settings of upright slabs suggest domestic occupation.

The smaller cairns range from 2m to 15m in diameter, stand up to 0.7m in height and are composed of a core of stones covered by sand. On one cairn, outside the area of survey, the remains of a cist are visible and it is likely that the majority of the cairns cover burials (for the results of the excavations in some of the cairns see RCAHMS 1980 p.9).

Near the centre of the surveyed area there is a long, somewhat rectilinear, mound (4, HY 7606 4703), which is overlain by Bank A; it stands to a height of 0.5m and shows signs of disturbance. Dr Wood (see p.9) records the excavation of a long mound on the line of the banks, which contained a vaulted chamber measuring 16 ft by 6 ft (4.88m by 1.83m), possibly a chambered cairn. As the bank is still intact it is unlikely that this is the mound referred to by Wood, but it may represent a similar structure.

A number of banks (A-G, J-L, N, P, Q), which range from 1m to 3.5m in thickness and up to 0.4m in height, are situated on the ness. They are composed of a stone core covered by sand; in places stone-robbing or rabbit-burrowing has completely levelled them. Several cairns have been built on top of the banks, whilst at least two of the mounds appear to be earlier than the banks (4, Bank A; 5, Bank E). The only visible original entrance through the enclosures is formed by the banks is in Bank A, 65m SSW of its junction with Bank N. Bank H is much more substantial than the others, measuring up to 10m in thickness and 0.5m in height; its function is not clear, but it may have formed an enclosure of more recent date than the others. The stratigraphical relationships of the banks cannot be ascertained by fieldwork alone, but surface traces suggest that A and N are contemporary; A overlies E-G; E may be later than D-F; L is overlain by enclosure M; and H overlies G and J.

The more recent features include enclosure M, which is two-phase and contains an inner enclosure which is partly overlain by a kelp-drying rack; kelp-drying stances (R); kelp-kilns (S-T); marker cairns (U); and close to cairn 1, various mounds, stone walls and an oval enclosure.

RCAHMS 1980, visited by RCAHMS (JBS, AL) July 1980

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