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Westray, Links Of Garth

Cist (Prehistoric)(Possible), Settlement (Period Unknown)

Site Name Westray, Links Of Garth

Classification Cist (Prehistoric)(Possible), Settlement (Period Unknown)

Canmore ID 2825

Site Number HY44SE 8

NGR HY 4673 4472

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2825

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Orkney Islands
  • Parish Westray
  • Former Region Orkney Islands Area
  • Former District Orkney
  • Former County Orkney

Archaeology Notes

HY44SE 8 4673 4472

No finds or identifiable remains could be seen but a distinct peat bed c.0.10m thick, underlies the whole site.

D Lynn and B Bell 1990.

Activities

Field Visit (June 1981)

A shapeless mound lying alongside the shore for about 100m,

and attaining a maximum height at its NE end of about 6m above

OD. It is being eroded and some stone structures, interspersed

among tawny sand, being revealed. Further stonework, none of it

very substantial, are visible as far as the point of the low

promontory at the SW end of the exposure. Here above the bedrock

is a band of clay with a bed of peat above it. The structures

near the point are founded at or just above the peat level, while

those in the mound proper, are in the sand. No midden material

is to be seen but at the point there are a few burnt stones.

This is suggestive of a widely scattered settlement such as a

Norse one.

Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Jun 81.

Field Visit (June 1981)

Links of Garth HY 4673 4472 HY44SE

Lying NE-SW alongside the low shoreline for some 100m is a mound attaining a maximum height, at its NE end, of about 6m. Its SE face is being eroded, exposing stone structures buried in sand. The stonework, none of it very substantial, continues to the SW as the height of the mound lessens towards the point of the low headland.

RCAHMS 1983, visited June 1981.

(OR 871).

Orkney Smr Note (August 1994)

Marine erosion has substantially altered this site. (See detailed records for coastal erosion report of July 1994, and slides). Site now consists of occasional small upright stones in sand, and a cist/ or box construction dyke-like feature in peat at point, more suggestive of Bronze Age (funerary) still no midden material.

Information from Orkney SMR (JG) July 1994

Field Visit (1998)

An amorphous grass-covered mound lies on the coast edge and has been cut back by coastal erosion. It measures 100m by 60m and stands up to 6m high. There are slight indications of structural stones visible in an exposure to the south east side but it is not possible to determine what form is represented.

Moore and Wilson, 1998

Coastal Zone Assessment Survey

References

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