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Gairsay
Cairn (Period Unassigned), Cist (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Gairsay
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned), Cist (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Skelbust
Canmore ID 2681
Site Number HY42SW 13
NGR HY 4494 2237
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2681
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Evie And Rendall
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY42SW 13 4494 2237.
(HY 4493 2238) Brough (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1900).
A chambered mound, but whether sepulchral or domestic cannot be determined.
It stands on the edge of a plateau and measures about 40 ft in diameter and about 5 ft in height.
An unrecorded excavation has revealed the whole interior, laying bare an oblong chamber 6 ft 7 ins long and from 21 ins wide at the north to 3 ft 3 ins at the south. The sides are carefully built of drystone masonry to a height of 2 ft above the floor, while the ends are formed of single slabs. The slabs or lintels which must have formed the roof have long since disappeared.
RCAHMS 1946.
The site is known locally as "Sweyn's Watch Tower".
Name Book 1880.
Chambered mound, as described. It is almost certainly originally a cairn (the conspicuous siting is characteristic), but it is possible that the unusual shaped chamber is secondary.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(RL) 8 June 1967.
This is a cairn with an unusually large cist - ? Viking period.
Visited by OS(AA) 14 October 1972.
