Archaeology Notes

Event ID 643873

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/643873

HY31NE 7 3990 1940.

(HY 3985 1952 : HY 3989 1937) Tumulus (NR)

O.S.6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1903)

There is a group of possibly six mounds by the east side of the road, near the croft of Sandyhall.

Three mounds lie approximately N and S, varying from 35 to 55ft in diameter and 2 to 8 1/2ft in height. Between the southern pair there has been a third, now completely levelled.

Close by these there are indefinite indications of the former presence of two others.

RCAHMS 1946

Three mounds only, mainly of earth and small stones and probably barrows, could be located in the area indicated.

A - HY 3986 1951 - is a grass-covered mound, squared-off by ploughing, measuring c.15.0m each way and up to c.1.8m high.

B - HY 3986 1945 - is a circular mound, spread by cultivation, c.10.0m in diameter and 0.7m high.

C - HY 3989 1937 - appears as a significant rise in the lower levels of a cultivated field, and is c.12.0m in diameter and 0.8m high.

No finds have been reported from any of them. Recent deep ploughing has removed all traces of the other mounds recorded by the RCAHMS.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(RL) 5 June 1966

A cist was found in one of these mounds. The mound was being ploughed down at the time.

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

The cist was examined and photgraphed by E Marwick and E MacGillivray on the 8th June 1968. The photographs show the cover-stone in place in a freshly ploughed fields with the N mound of the group and the farmhouse of Hogarth visible in the background.

Orientated E-W. The cover-stone and sides were single flags. Externally the sides were 0.91m long c.0.5m wide and c.0.4m deep. Natural clay base, full of loose ploughsoil. A pile of cremated bones were found underneath the fill.

J W Hedges (North of Scotland Archaeology Society), Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1978-80