Westray, Mae Sand
Cist(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Westray, Mae Sand
Classification Cist(S) (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 2839
Site Number HY44SW 20
NGR HY 445 429
NGR Description HY c. 445 429
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2839
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Westray
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY44SW 20 c. 445 429.
While ploughing new ground near the shore at the E end of Mae Sand, c.1954, a farmer unearthed 4 or 5 cists, one of which contained a crouched skeleton. No details are available.
This information was contained in a letter from N Cooper, The Schoolhouse, Pierowall to A S Henshall 14 February 1959.
Field Visit (1998)
Four or five cists were uncovered at this locality during ploughing in the 1950's. One cist is said to have contained a crouched inhumation. The cist are no longer visible.
Moore and Wilson, 1998
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey
Orkney Smr Note
...The whole area, of course, along Knucker Hill, Gallow
Hill, and Fitty Hill, and particularly to the S of Fitty Hill,
shows evidence of prehistoric settlement. The old gentleman does
recall a rather odd thing in the neighbourhood when he was a
child. A farmer, when clearing ditches, found his spade go
through the ground, exposing a hole, and one could hear them
clattering their way downwards for a considerable distance. The
hole was too narrow for an adult body to enter - some persuasion
was put upon the child to go down, but he refused. So far as is
known, the hole was covered over with a large stone - and there
the matter rests to this day. - Letter dated 14th February,
1959, to A. S. Henshall, copy
in Detailed Records filed under OR 1180
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]
