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Hestinsetter Hill, Giant's Grave
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Site Name Hestinsetter Hill, Giant's Grave
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Canmore ID 290
Site Number HU24NE 3
NGR HU 29201 45715
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/290
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Sandsting
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HU24NE 3 2920 4572
(HU 2920 4570) Giant's Grave (NR)
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1903)
The remains of a chambered cairn excavated by Hunt in 1866, who recovered pottery and cremated bones. The cairn has been completely removed, so that only the lowest courses of the chamber and a few stones remain. Of these three stones on the east and SE appear to be the remnants of a kerb, either round or heel-shaped, the tallest being 2'10" high on the SE of the arc, nearest to the probable position of the entrance. These stones imply a diameter of 30' to 40' for the cairn.
RCAHMS 1946; A S Henshall 1963.
Chambered cairn as described and planned by Henshall.
Visited by OS (RL) 14 June 1968.
Field Visit (25 June 1931)
Cairn, Hestinsetter Hill.
Almost on the top of Hestinsetter Hill, 355 ft. above the sea, are the remains of a round cairn known locally as "the Giant's Grave". It was opened many years ago by Dr. Hunt, whose description of the chamber is as follows: "The top stone measured five feet ten inches by four feet ten inches; the entrance one foot seven inches; the interior averaged about five feet ten inches wide, and about the same distance long. It was of a semi-octagonal irregular shape, composed of six stones. It was here I found the large rough stone, and the fragments of pottery and calcined bones, which I now produce. This structure had many of the characters of a cromlech; and it is worthy of note that the pottery here found essentially differs from any found elsewhere; the only bit preserved had the string pattern on it" (1).
The little that is left suggests that the cairn had a diameter of 31 ft., and that the chamber was near the centre. The latter has been constructed of massive blocks of coarse red granite. One side is now missing, but several large stones are still to be seen, their dimensions agreeing generally with those given in the foregoing quotation. What has been the covering slab is from 9 to 10 in. thick.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 25 June 1931.
(1) Mem. Anthrop. Soc. Lond., ii (1865-6), pp. 310-1.
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1903)
