Cumbla Newgarth
Barrow(S) (Prehistoric), Cist(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Cumbla Newgarth
Classification Barrow(S) (Prehistoric), Cist(S) (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 1635
Site Number HY21NE 42
NGR HY 261 190
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1635
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Sandwick
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY21NE 42 261 190.
(Centred : HY 2615 1900) Tumuli {NR}
(Centred : HY 2609 1902) Tumuli {NR} (Site of)
O.S.6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1903).
A group of at least seven mounds, some now removed, which have yielded 'bone dust' and other relics proving them to be places of interment
Name Book 1880.
There is no surface evidence as to their construction although it is stated locally that they consist mainly of very light-coloured soil.
RCAHMS 1946.
The sites of nine barrows, now only faintly discernible, situated in a pasture field. Mr Groundwater found, while ploughing some years ago, a small stone slab (underneath which were ashes) in the mound at HY 2605 1898.(Information from Mr H Groundwater, Newhouse Farm, Sandwick.)
Sites surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(RL) 22 May 1967.
Field Visit (22 May 1967)
The sites of nine barrows, now only faintly discernible, situated in a pasture field. Mr Groundwater found, while ploughing some years ago, a small stone slab (underneath which were ashes) in the mound at HY 2605 1898.(Information from Mr H Groundwater, Newhouse Farm, Sandwick.)
Sites surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(RL) 22 May 1967.
Field Visit (29 September 1993)
The site of these mounds was visited during the course of the Orkney Barrows Project. All were recorded as levelled. The location of the mounds is on a small rise, visible to the N and S for up to 1.5km and E to 1km.
Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1993
Orkney Smr Note
A faint representation of ancient tumuli, said to have been
burial ground of an early date, it is only a short time ago since
they were almost entire but the progress of cultivation has
entirely destroyed the surface features, bone dust and other
substances, denoting these to have been places of interment. [R1]
All of a group of at least seven mounds of various sizes have
been more or less mutilated by farming operations, and only in one
or two cases can even approx. measurements be obtained. The
largest has been so much destroyed that no estimate of it's size
can be made although it is clear that it must have been of
considerable extent and height. A little to the S.E. with a
diameter of 30ft. is another, and between these two is one of
similar character, but much smaller. E. and N.E. of these three
are the traces of at least four others, which it is now almost
impossible to distinguish from their surroundings. At the N.E.
corner some rising ground evidently marks the site of an eighth
mound roughly 30ft. in diameter, the original form of which has
been completely obliterated. [R2]
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d]
