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Marwick
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Marwick
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 1916
Site Number HY22SW 27
NGR HY 2302 2410
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1916
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Birsay And Harray
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY22SW 27 2302 2410.
(HY 2302 2410) Chapel (NR) (In Ruins) : Burial Ground (NR)
O.S.6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1900).
The remains of a chapel, excavated by J. Storer Clouston, stand about 2 ft high. The walls are of rubble, apparently bonded with clay mortar, and the doorway is in the SW wall. No date can be allotted to the structure.
A very low, grass-covered mound, no doubt marking the limits of the burial-ground, surrounds the chapel from SW to NE and continues for a short distance on the NE as a line of laid stones. No other traces can be seen.
RCAHMS 1946.
The remains of a chapel and burial-ground, as described by the Commission. Oriented approximately NE. to SW. The building measures c.5.2 m. by c.3.8 m. internally, the walls being c.1.2 m. average width.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(RL) 18 May 1967.
........probably an original foundation of the Norse period..small rectangular chapel measuring 17ft. by 12ft. internally with typical short proportions of the Celtic period, but the masonry with traces of mortar and the checked door jambs ..are unlikely to be earlier than the 12th century.
F T Wainwright (ed.) 1962.
No visible evidence.
OS revision October 1985.
Project (June 2008 - May 2009)
HY 2302 2410 and HY 2283 2399 Fluxgate gradiometer and earth resistance surveys, covering c5ha and c1ha respectively, were carried out around the Marwick Bay chapel site June 2008–May 2009. The surveys identified several interesting anomalies around the chapel and the supposed Viking settlement to the SW. The extent of settlement activities around the Viking site appears to extend at least 20m to the S of the current scheduled area and into the adjacent field. There was clear evidence of earlier cultivation activities and
a spread of other features both in and outside the scheduled areas. A series of anomalies relating to SE–NW aligned rig and furrow cultivation and which apparently respect the alignment of the chapel were also recorded.
Archive: OCGU
Funder: University of Oxford
Mary Saunders – Orkney College Geophysics Unit
Resistivity (June 2008 - May 2009)
HY 2302 2410 and HY 2283 2399 Earth resistance surveyssurveys, covering c5ha and c1ha respectively, were carried out around the Marwick Bay chapel site June 2008–May 2009.
Archive: OCGU
Funder: University of Oxford
Mary Saunders – Orkney College Geophysics Unit
Magnetometry (June 2008 - May 2009)
HY 2302 2410 and HY 2283 2399 Fluxgate gradiometer surveys, covering c5ha and c1ha respectively, were carried out around the Marwick Bay chapel site June 2008–May 2009.
Archive: OCGU
Funder: University of Oxford
Mary Saunders – Orkney College Geophysics Unit
Project (20 June 2009 - 29 June 2009)
HY 2365 1962, HY 2283 2399 and HY 2300 2410 This project focuses on building landscape context for erosive coastal areas with significant windblown sand. Work from 20–29 June 2009 focused on the mound complex on the N side of the Bay of Skaill. Gradiometry and GPR showed a dense concentration of magnetic anomalies which were subjected to selective excavation in 2004–8. The concentration of multi-period ‘mound’ sites around the N of the Bay can now be expanded from one to at least five foci (excluding Broch of Verron, RCAHMS HY21NW 22 and RBW HY21 12, Verron 2). No excavation took place in 2009 but geophysical surveys
were continued and extended, connecting with the previous survey of the WHS buffer zone to the S (Orkney College Geophysics Unit).
A geophysical survey was begun at Marwick Bay in 2008 and continued in 2009. The chapel (SAM 2934) produced strong magnetometry and resistivity plots. Survey, characterisation, recording and soil sampling works also took place on the eroding settlement mound on the shore front of Marwick Bay (SAM 2884 – termed ‘Viking house’ by RCAHMS). Samples and radiocarbon dates will be processed in 2010.
Archive: OUDCE, Oxford University. Report: Historic Scotland, Orkney Museum, Orkney SMR and RCAHMS
Funder: Historic Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Oxford University
David Griffiths – Oxford University
Ground Penetrating Radar (20 June 2009 - 29 June 2009)
HY 2365 1962, HY 2283 2399 and HY 2300 2410 This project focuses on building landscape context for erosive coastal areas with significant windblown sand. Work from 20–29 June 2009 focused on the mound complex on the N side of the Bay of Skaill. GPR showed a dense concentration of magnetic anomalies which were subjected to selective excavation in 2004–8.
Funder: Historic Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Oxford University
David Griffiths – Oxford University
Magnetometry (20 June 2009 - 29 June 2009)
HY 2365 1962, HY 2283 2399 and HY 2300 2410 This project focuses on building landscape context for erosive coastal areas with significant windblown sand. Work from 20–29 June 2009 focused on the mound complex on the N side of the Bay of Skaill. Gradiometry showed a dense concentration of magnetic anomalies which were subjected to selective excavation in 2004–8.
Funder: Historic Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Oxford University
David Griffiths – Oxford University
Orkney Smr Note
These remains are situated near the S end of Mar Wick, and S
of the public road. Excavations recently carried out by J Storer
Clouston have laid bare foundations, of the chapel walls, which
were rubble, built with clay mortar, and are now reduced to a
height of about 2ft. The chapel measures 25.5ft by 21ft 9in over
all, the latter dimension including a bulge which appears on the
outer wall face of the NW wall with a maximum thickness of 1ft
9in. The doorway is on the SW wall is only 23in wide and has
checks and a step on its inner inner side. No date can be alloted
to this structure. A low grass-covered mound, marking the limits
of the burial-ground, surrounds the chapel from SW to NE at
distances of from 14ft to 45ft, its line being continued for a
short distance on the NE side by a number of laid stones. No
trace of mound or stonework can be seen to E or SE of the chapel.
See RC for plan. [R1]
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]
