Archaeology Notes

Event ID 644922

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/644922

HY33SE 1 3722 3048.

(HY 3719 3052) Mid Howe: Orkney-Cromarty Stalled Cairn. Before excavation in 1932-3 and later in 1934, it was a long grassy mound from which the tops of some upright stones projected. It has now been placed under the guardianship of the Dept of the Environment who have enclosed it in a stone building.

The cairn, rectangular in plan with rounded corners, measures 106' 9" in length and 42' 6" in width, with the main axis SE-NW. It is bounded by an elaborately built wall-face with another wall-face 4' 6" to 7' 9" within it. The outer wall-face is constructed with two horizontally laid foundation courses; the inner wall-face survives up to a height of 6' and is built of horizontally laid slabs. The passage opens from the SE end of the cairn. The outer end was found blocked by masonry, its outer face flush with the outer wall-face round the cairn, and the inner end was similarly blocked; no roofing remains.

The chamber is 76' long by 6' 6" to 8' wide, divided by pairs of transverse upright slabs into twelve compartments from 4' to 7' long. The walls are of well-built vertical dry masonry.

At the NW end of the cairn there had been a secondary occupation at a higher level. There seemed to have been a passage leading from the NW end of the cairn to the chamber as a height of about 3' above floor level. Some secondary constructions were also found against the N corner of the cairn, including a cist-like tank.

Two walls spring from the N and E corners of the cairn. They have an average width of 4' 6" and are up to 4' high. The N wall was traced for 68', and at 36' 6" from the cairn there was a carefully built gap 2' wide; the E wall was traced for 45' and there was a similar gap 3' 6" from the cairn. The foundations of the walls are 9" to 12" below the base of the cairn, and where they abut the cairn its facing wall is undisturbed. Their date and purpose are unknown.

Various finds from the site are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS). The pottery is of the Unstan type.

A S Henshall 1963; RCAHMS 1946; R W Feachem 1963; J G Callander 1934.

Mid How Chambered Cairn (As per HBM [DofE] plaque), at HY 3722 3048, as described and planned, housed inside a building.

Visited by OS (AA) 10 October 1972.