Loch Of Beosetter
Burnt Mound (Prehistoric), Unidentified Pottery (Steatite)(Prehistoric)
Site Name Loch Of Beosetter
Classification Burnt Mound (Prehistoric), Unidentified Pottery (Steatite)(Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Washing Knowe
Canmore ID 1038
Site Number HU44SE 1
NGR HU 49056 43973
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1038
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Bressay
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HU44SE 1 4905 4397.
(HU 491 439) Tumuli (NR)
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1902).
Washy Knowe is a knoll composed of two conjoined tumuli (a broch) - (A description written by J Anderson quoting MacDonald).
Name Book 1878.
This mainly turf-covered mound of burnt stones, shown by the OS as two separate monuments, is about 70ft long by 40 to 45ft wide and from 5 to 7ft high. It has been partially excavated on the SE, where a hollow marks the site of a rough cist-like structure, and on the NW, where fragments of a steatite vessel were found on 0th July 1930, embedded in the burnt material composing the mound. The fragments are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1931 (Accessions); RCAHMS 1946, visited 10th July 1930.
HU 4906 4398. This is a turf-covered mound, 2.2m high, with burnt stones showing in the excavation pit in the north side. In the top of the mound a vague indentation, 1.0m long and 0.4m wide, suggests that this is the position of the 'cist-like structure' mentioned by the RCAHMS. No recent finds have been made here, and the name 'Washy Knowe' is now known locally as 'Washing Knowe'.
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 7 September 1964.
Field Visit (10 July 1930)
This mound, which is situated on a tiny low-lying promontory at the NE corner of the northernmost of the Lochs of Beosetter, has been noted on the OS map as two separate monuments (Fig. 24) . It measures approximately 70 ft in length by 40 to 45 ft in width, and varies in height from 5 ft at the E, end to 7 ft on the W. side. It has been partially excavated in a rough and ready way on the NW and SE, and at both places interesting discoveries were made. On the SE, where some haphazard digging was carried out many years ago, it is said that a rude cist-like structure was exposed high up on the mound, but, unfortunately, it has been torn out, and the hollow which indicates its position is now, like most of the mound, covered with a coating of fine short turf. On the NW, where a considerable portion has been carted away for road metal, fragments of pottery showing the rim and base sections of a flat-bottomed steatite vessel were found at the time of visit embedded in the burnt material of which the mound is constructed. These fragments are now preserved in the National Museum.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 10 July 1930.
OS map ref.: liii & liiiA ("Tumuli").
Field Visit (7 September 1964)
HU 4906 4398. This is a turf-covered mound, 2.2m high, with burnt stones showing in the excavation pit in the north side. In the top of the mound a vague indentation, 1.0m long and 0.4m wide, suggests that this is the position of the 'cist-like structure' mentioned by the RCAHMS. No recent finds have been made here, and the name 'Washy Knowe' is now known locally as 'Washing Knowe'.
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 7 September 1964.
