Westray, Point Of Cott
Animal Burial(S) (Neolithic), Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Inhumation(S) (Neolithic), Unidentified Pottery (Neolithic)
Site Name Westray, Point Of Cott
Classification Animal Burial(S) (Neolithic), Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Inhumation(S) (Neolithic), Unidentified Pottery (Neolithic)
Canmore ID 2756
Site Number HY44NE 3
NGR HY 46545 47449
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2756
First 100 images shown. See the Collections panel (below) for a link to all digital images.
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Westray
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY44NE 3 4654 4746.
HY 465 474. Point of Cott. A long stalled horned Orkney-Cromarty type chambered cairn lies on the very edge of cultivated land about 14' above the rocky shore, with its main axis parallel to the edge of the low cliffs. The cairn has been eroded along the east side and around the north end, but the remaining mound is 100'N-S. The north end is about 25' wide and the south end 45'. It is grass-grown, composed of flat slabs and rises to a maximum height of about 5' at the south end. (For full description, see A S Henshall 1963).
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1935; A S Henshall 1963, visited 1957.
The remains of a stalled long horned chambered cairn at HY 4654 4746, as described and planned by Henshall.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 2 July 1970.
The chambered cairn at Point of Cott was believed to be stalled cairn of 7 or more compartments. Excavation of the cairn, its chambers, and areas outwith the cairn, revealed that in face the site consists of 2 distinct elements.
At the south end a relatively standard stalled cairn of 4 compartments was discovered. Burial deposits (human bone, animal bone and pottery) were discovered on the floors of the first 3 stalls, and an unusual double cist-like arrangement occupied the floor of the fourth and northern-most-compartment.
These deposits were sealed by collapsed chamber and cairn material inter-mixed with which were human and animal bone, amongst the latter there being the talon of large birds of prey.
At the N end of the site a separate and apparently earlier structure was located. The exact nature of this structure has not yet been fully resolved, paricularly since it was largely destroyed in the process of its incorporation into the cairn of the chambered tombs.
J Barber 1984.
Field Visit (June 1981)
Eroding very seriously along the whole length of both E side
and N end, where the cairn structure is rapidly falling out. The
outer wall-face visible on the W side at N end is built of
herringbone-laid masonry.
Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Jun 81
Field Visit (June 1983)
Point of Cott HY 4654 4744 HY44NE 3
This long stalled tomb lies on the edge of a 5m high cliff at the blunt headland 600m N of Cleat. It is a grass-covered mound aligned N-S, measuring 30m in length and widening from 7 .6m at the N end to 13. 7 m at the S, where it was horned. The wall-face of the W horn can be traced on its W side, continuing N for much of the length of the mound. Nine stall-slabs project in the hollowed centre. This important site is suffering erosion along the whole length of its E side and also at its N end, where the stonework is rapidly falling out. At the moment, however, the forecourt area at the S end remains intact.
RCAHMS 1983, visited June 1983
(RCAHMS 1946, ii, pp. 356-7, No. 1047; Henshall 1963, 226; OR 906).
Excavation (1984)
The chambered cairn at Point of Cott was believed to be stalled cairn of 7 or more compartments. Excavation of the cairn, its chambers, and areas outwith the cairn, revealed that in face the site consists of 2 distinct elements.
At the south end a relatively standard stalled cairn of 4 compartments was discovered. Burial deposits (human bone, animal bone and pottery) were discovered on the floors of the first 3 stalls, and an unusual double cist-like arrangement occupied the floor of the fourth and northern-most-compartment.
These deposits were sealed by collapsed chamber and cairn material inter-mixed with which were human and animal bone, amongst the latter there being the talon of large birds of prey.
At the N end of the site a separate and apparently earlier structure was located. The exact nature of this structure has not yet been fully resolved, particularly since it was largely destroyed in the process of its incorporation into the cairn of the chambered tombs.
J Barber 1984.
Publication Account (1996)
Before it was excavated in the 1980s, this was an eroding long cairn some 1.5m high, which had once been more than 30m long. Fears that coastal erosion would destroy it completely led to its excavation, but the basal course of the structure uncovered is still visible, if overgrown . This must have been a magnificent sight when it was in use, for the cairn curved outwards on either side of the entrance to form long horns, thus creating a spacious forecourt in front of the tomb facade. The entrance passage was still roofed with slabs set on edge, but the long stalled chamber was roofless. It was divided into four compartments, of which the innermost was furnished by a double box formed of low upright slabs. The partial remains of twelve people were recovered, both adults and children, along with pottery and animal bones.
There are small displays of artefacts in site museums at Skara Brae (no. 61) and Isbister (no. 85), and the broch of Gurness has a more extensive visitor centre (no. 53). A general display on Orcadian prehistory may be seen at Tormiston Mill (no. 26).
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
Field Visit (1998)
This long horned Orkney-Cromarty type stalled cairn lies on the coast edge and had already been affected by coastal erosion before being investigated and recorded in 1935. It was excavated in 1984-5 (Barber1998) and has been partially reinstated although it continues to erode. The minimum length of the cairn is estimated to have been over 30m, the southern facade was 16m wide while the surviving horn was 6m long. Excavation revealed that the cairn was of complex and sequential construction. At the south end a stalled cairn with four compartments was uncovered. The first three compartments contained deposits of human and animal bone and pottery. The fourth, northernmost, compartment was occupied by a double cist of unusual type. Beneath the north end of the cairn were found the remains of an earlier structure that had been badly damaged by the construction of the cairn.
Moore and Wilson, 1998
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey
Note (2020)
Point of Cott
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Neolithic/Bronze Age period, between 4000 BC and 801 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60083
CANMORE ID: 2756
Total no. graves with grave goods: 4
Total no. people with grave goods: 16
Total no. grave goods: 9
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74049
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74050
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation, Inhumation
Grave good: Pot; Materials used: Pottery; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Pot; Materials used: Pottery; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Pot; Materials used: Pottery; Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74051
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation, Inhumation
Grave good: Animal Joint/Part; Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Animal Burial (Specified type); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Necklace; Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Tooth]; Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74052
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation, Inhumation
Grave good: Animal Burial (Specified type)
Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]
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
A mound 100ft long, aligned almost due N-S, N end now 25ft
wide, S end 45ft. Mound grass-covered, rises to 5ft high at S
end. The face of a low bounding wall of drystone masonry visible
on W side, both at N end and at S end where it continues its
gentle outward sweep to form part of a horn or wall which
projects at least 15ft 6in from the cairn. The E face of the
horn returns without a break to form S end of cairn. In a
limited investigation in 1935 RCAMS found the S wall-face for
about 18ft stopping short of the position where an entrance might
be expected, but no trace of a passage was found. The tops of 9
stones exposed in the mound centre represent the divisional slabs
of the stalled chamber. [R1], [R2]
