Nearhouse Hill
Mound(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Nearhouse Hill
Classification Mound(S) (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Upper Scows
Canmore ID 1949
Site Number HY30NE 3
NGR HY 3591 0961
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1949
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Orphir
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY30NE 3 3591 0961.
(Group centred: HY 3591 0961) Tumuli (NR)
O.S.6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1903).
Although "eight small artificial mounds of earth and stone" were noted in 1880 and appear on the OS 25" Orkney, 1st ed.,(1881), only four are shown on the OS 6" 1903. Despite this, at least six were found in August 1928 by the RCAHMS. The best defined of the group was 25ft in diameter and 3ft high, another was 23 ft in diameter, and four low mounds each had a diameter of about 20 ft.
Name Book 1880; RCAHMS 1946.
The remains of four small grass-covered tumuli and the sites of another two, situated in an area of pasture, on a false crest. They range in size from 5.0 to 8.0m in diameter and from 0.3m to 0.7m high. The most northerly has a denuded flat top.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(RL) 24 April 1966.
Field Visit (18 September 1993)
This cemetery is in double linear formation. There are seven or eight bowl-shaped mounds. The mounds are a variety of sizes and are situated in such a way that only one of the group (5) is prominent. Number 5 is also the best preserved.
Upper Scows 1: Measures 5.3m by 5.8m. Height 0.25m.
Upper Scows 2: Measures 7.6m by 7.2m. Height 0.4-0.7m.
Upper Scows 3: Measures 6.0m in diameter. Height 0.2m.
Upper Scows 4: Measures 6.0m in diameter. Height 0.2m.
Upper Scows 5: Measures 7.5m by 7.6m. Height 0.7m. Very prominent on a crest, visible for 1km to S and W.
Upper Scows 6: Measures 6.0m in diameter. Height 0.25m.
Upper Scows 7: Measures 9.8m in diameter. Height 0.6m. This may be the mound which the OS refers to as having a denuded flat top.
Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1993
