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'Newbigging'
Barrow(S) (Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation (Bronze Age), Inhumation (Bronze Age), Vessel (Steatite)(Bronze Age)
Site Name 'Newbigging'
Classification Barrow(S) (Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation (Bronze Age), Inhumation (Bronze Age), Vessel (Steatite)(Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) St Olaf's Cemetery
Canmore ID 2356
Site Number HY40NW 4
NGR HY 4345 0983
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2356
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Kirkwall And St Ola
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY40NW 4 4345 0983.
(Area HY 4345 0983) In 1855 several mounds were opened on the farm of Newbigging; Kirkwall. One of them, on the SE slope of the hill about 22 chains WNW of (HY40NW 3), contained three cists as shown. Petrie has put on record a detailed account of its examination.(G Petrie 1868).
The mound was 30 ft. diameter at base and 5-6 ft. high. Beneath a heap of stones at the top were two flagstones, being the cover-stones of two empty cists, each about 4 ft. 8 ins. long by 18 in. wide and 13 ins. deep, which where separated by a single slab bonded into masonry; this masonry formed a wall on three sides of the whole cavity, the fourth side being a single flagstone. The bottom flag proved to be the cover of a third cist 4 ft. 8 in. long, 3 ft. 1 in. wide and 2 ft. 2 in. deep containing 2 human skeletons, one at each end, in the contracted posture as well as ashes mingled with calcined bones.
RCAHMS 1946; H Marwick 1924.
No further information could be obtained about these mounds. They could not be located, and have probably been destroyed by cultivation.
Visited by OS(GHP) 8 April 1964.
In 1855 'The Orcadian' reported the excavation of cists from a number of barrows. The 'John O'Groat Journal' in 1855 describes the discovery of a double cist with bones in a previous excavation.
M Howe 2006
Field Visit (8 April 1964)
No further information could be obtained about these mounds. They could not be located, and have probably been destroyed by cultivation.
Visited by OS(GHP) 8 April 1964.
Note (2020)
St Olaf's Cemetery
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 2450 BC and 801 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60027
CANMORE ID: 2356
Total no. graves with grave goods: 1
Total no. people with grave goods: 1
Total no. grave goods: 1
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 60011
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Vessel (Unknown/Unspecified)
Materials used: Steatite
Current museum location: Unknown
Further details, the full project database and downloads of project publications can be found here: https://doi.org/10.5284/1052206
An accessible visualisation of the database can be found here: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grave-goods/map/
Orkney Smr Note
In May 1855, Mr William Fotheringham, the proprietor of the farm of Newbigging, accidentally discovered on his farm a cist containing a small stone urn. Petrie gives a detailed account of his findings. [R1]
Text derived from PSAS. A description of the mound, cist and finds is given. [R2]
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]
