Peerie Hill
Bank (Earthwork) (Period Unassigned), Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Roundhouse (Prehistoric), Track (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Peerie Hill
Classification Bank (Earthwork) (Period Unassigned), Enclosure(S) (Period Unassigned), Roundhouse (Prehistoric), Track (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Spretta Meadow
Canmore ID 307321
Site Number HY21NW 60
NGR HY 2325 1465
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/307321
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Sandwick
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY21NW 60 2325 1465
A trackway, several enclosures and the footings of a round house are recorded on oblique aerial photography (RCAHMSAP 2009) on the W side of the summit of Peerie Hill. The trackway is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Orkney 1882, c).
Information from RCAHMS (LMcC) 8 November 2010
Geophysical Survey (20 July 2015 - 31 July 2015)
HY 23215 14834 The Yesnaby Art and Archaeology Project aims to investigate the ebb and flow of human activity of Yesnaby over the past 5000 years. Alongside this, the project is exploring the relationship between the practices of art and archaeology, and considering the use and value of these combined methodologies in interpreting and presenting the past.
The 20–31 July 2015 season focused on the later prehistory of Yesnaby. A total of 7.1ha of gradiometer survey was undertaken to the N of the late prehistoric roundhouse and enclosures on the Peerie Hill (HY21NW 60). This extended previous survey undertaken in 2008 (DES, 2011). The survey
results show no evidence of a continuation of settlement and field systems into the improved agricultural areas, although they did record the presence of palaeochannels and an igneous dyke. Wider landscape survey, phenomenological recording and arts based practice were undertaken to contextualise the
later prehistoric monuments.
Report: National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) and Orkney SMR
Funder: Orkney College UHI, Orkney Archaeology Society – Research Grant and Orkney Islands Council – Culture Fund
James Moore – Archaeology Institute, UHI
(Source: DES, Volume 16)
Field Visit (31 July 2017 - 11 August 2017)
HY 23316 15092 The Yesnaby Art and Archaeology Project aims to investigate the ebb and flow of human activity in Yesnaby over the past 5000 years. The project is also exploring the relationship between the practices of art and archaeology, and considering the use and value of these combined methodologies in interpreting and presenting the past.
The 31 July – 11 August 2017 season of fieldwork aimed to extend the 2015 survey that investigated the immediate environs of a series of later prehistoric enclosures and settlement. Wider landscape survey, phenomenological recording, arts-based practice and low level aerial drone photography were undertaken to contextualise the survey area within the wider landscape. Gradiometer survey detected no traces of settlement, nor evidence for sub-rectilinear enclosures similar to those later prehistoric sites identified in the immediate area. As such it would seem likely that the remains at Peerie Hill (HY21NW 60), Billia Fiold (HY21NW 62) and the Burn of Cruland (HY21NW 70) represent discrete areas of prehistoric occupation, rather than vestigal remnants of a much larger contiguous settled agricultural landscape.
Of greater significance was the identification of weak linear trends that represent the remnants of earthen dykes. The location of these corresponds well with the anticipated location of the pre-enclosure township boundary of Yesnaby as shown on MacKenzie’s 18th-century map.
Archive: Orkney SMR and NRHE (intended)
Funder: Orkney College UHI, Orkney Islands Council – Culture Fund
James Moore – Archaeology Institute, UHI
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
