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Westray, Cleat
Burial Ground (Medieval)(Possible), Chapel (Medieval)(Possible), Settlement (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Site Name Westray, Cleat
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval)(Possible), Chapel (Medieval)(Possible), Settlement (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Canmore ID 2760
Site Number HY44NE 7
NGR HY 4648 4685
NGR Description Centred HY 4648 4685
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2760
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Westray
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY44NE 7 4648 4685.
A small enclosure, believed to have been a burial ground and in which the ruins of a chapel are said to have been visible, lies behind the farm buildings at Cleat (HY 464 467) and is now used as a steading.
A great number of human skeletons and a large deposit of kitchen-midden refuse are said to have been exposed when the site was levelled. A bone comb with dots and circles on the plate is reported to have been among the debris. There is now no sign of any structure.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928.
There is no trace and no local knowledge of a chapel at Cleat, but the tradition of a burial ground in the small field centred at HY 4648 4685 is still known. The situation is a stony rise which has been extensively quarried and this together with the reported finds of midden material and a bone comb with the skeletons suggests an occupation site.
Visited by OS (NKB) 2 July 1970.
Field Visit (June 1981)
Cleat HY 4648 4685 HY44NE 7
Tradition places the site of a chapel in a small paddock immediately N of the farm buildings. Human remains have been found there, and a kitchen-midden deposit and a find of a decorated bone comb suggest that this is an ancient settlement-site. Corrie recorded the tradition that this was the site of the old house of Cleat, one of several houses burned in reprisal after 1745.
RCAHMS 1983, visited June 1981.
(RCAHMS Notebook, Orkney, No. 2, 4 July 1928; RCAHMS 1946, ii, p. 360, No. 1068; Fereday 1980, 108; 0 R 704).
Field Visit (1998)
Burials found here in the past suggest the presence of a chapel site. The site is alleged to have been located on a rocky rise which has been extensively quarried and which is now located within an enclosed field. Midden deposits and a bone comb were also found in this area and may indicate the presence of a settlement of contemporary or earlier date. There is no trace of any remains visible in the area now.
Moore and Wilson, 1998
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey
Orkney Smr Note
Immediately behind the farm buildings of Cleat is a small
enclosure used as a steading, believed to have been a
burial-ground. There is a story that the ruins of a chapel used
to be visible within it and that when it was cleared and
levelled, human skeletons and a large deposit of kitchen-midden
material were found. A bone comb with dot-and -circle decoration
is said to have been found. [R1]
Corrie was told in 1928 that this traditionally was also the
site of the old house of Cleat which was buried in reprisal in
1746. [R2], [R3]
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]
