Archaeology Notes

Event ID 643130

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/643130

HY21NE 27 2582 1581.

6 Cists found at Fiddlerhouse.

Information from E McGillivray, Librarian, Kirkwall 1 May 1973.

Mr Marwick pointed out the sites where he found the cists whilst ploughing during the winter 1927-28 and described the discoveries as follows:-

(1) At HY 2582 1575 a cist of slabs about 0.6m x 0.5m and about 0.7m deep with a bottom and cover slab. Nothing was found in it.

(2) (4) (5) (6) (Centred at HY 2582 1581) Four cists all rougher than (1) but each containing a cremation. There had also been an earthen mound at HY 2584 1578.

(7) about 4.0m in diameter with an upright slab about 1.0m high protruding through the turf. The stone has been removed and the mound reduced by ploughing. It is now visible merely as a slight rise in the ground.

(8) At HY 2590 1570 in a natural hollow was a patch of ashes (2.0m diameter and 1.0m deep) containing splinters of human bones similar to the material found in the cists, which was all taken away. He also indicated (at HY 2583 1582) (3) the site of a cist which had been opened prior to 1894 but did not know what it contained.(Information from

Mr J Marwick, Fiddlerhouse, Sandwick, Orkney.)

The cists have all been removed and nothing remains to indicate their sites.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(ISS) 24 May 1973.