Archaeology Notes

Event ID 645288

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/645288

HY32NE 19 3753 2966

(HY 3752 2968) Knowe of Swandro (NR)

OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1900).

The much-disturbed remains of a stony mound. To judge from a series of large slabs set on edge over an area measuring roughly 72 ft by 24 ft, there may have been a group of graves here, possibly of Viking origin. 'This conjecture is to some extent supported by the fact that a typical Viking sword and a shield-boss (HY32NE 3) ... were ploughed up separately close to the site: on the onther hand, these Viking relics may have been intrusions in a previously existing structure.'

RCAHMS 1946.

Knowe of Swandro, a mutilated turf-covered mound 1.5 m. high, apparently containing the remains of a drystone structure. Unable to classify, but possibly associated with the nearby Viking hall (HY32NE 17).

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (NKB), 8 June 1967.

The size and shape of this turf-covered mound suggests it to be the NE half of a broch, and a trench cut across it (but now filled in) revealed enough surviving walling to support this classification. Paving reaching from the nearby Viking hall for several yards towards this mound suggests that the mound provided a source of building material for the hall and farmstead.

Visited by OS (AA), 10 October 1972.