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Field Visit
Date 5 August 1931
Event ID 1129909
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1129909
Chambered Cairn, Ronas Hill.
This is perhaps the most complete, though not the most interesting, chambered cairn that now survives in Shetland (Fig. 612). It stands on the very summit of Ronas Hill, which is the highest point in the whole archipelago, the cairn being thus no less than 1475 ft. above sea-level. Like most other ancient monuments in Shetland, it has been considerably scattered, so that any opinion as to its precise outline must be more or less conjectural. Originally, however, it was probably at least 45 ft. in diameter. It still rises to a height of 10 ft. 6 in., but appearances suggest that much of the material on the top has been heaped up at a comparatively recent date. The lower levels are grass-grown.
The body of the cairn has been formed of large stones. As will be seen from the plan, the single compartment chamber, which is constructed of massive blocks and is nearly 4 ft. high, somewhat resembles a cist, not merely in outline but in size, being only some 5 ft. 6 in. long by 3 ft. broad. It lies with its major axis almost due N. and S. The entrance (Fig. 610) is on the E., and the passage, a few of the cover stones of which are still in situ, varies in width from 2 ft. to 3 ft. 3 in., with a height of some 5 ft. 3 in. above the exterior ground-level. There is no record of any associated relics.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 5 August 1931
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1900).
