Shapinsay, Stentlaquoy
Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Shapinsay, Stentlaquoy
Classification Cairn(S) (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Mor Stein; East Of Cot-on-hill
Canmore ID 3087
Site Number HY51NW 3
NGR HY 5286 1687
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3087
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Shapinsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY51NW 3 5286 1687.
At Stentlaquoy, fully 1/4 mile NE of the "Mor Stein" (HY51NW 1), is a scattered group of at least 10 mounds, each about 20' in diameter and 3' high. Two of them have been opened, exposing cists in which burnt bones were found. One cist measured 4' 9" square and the other, incomplete and covered by a large cover-stone, 5'1" x 3'9" varied in width from 2'8" at one end to 4'6" at the other.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928.
These stony mounds are centred at HY 5286 1687. According to Work (Magnus Work of Newfield Cottage, Shapinsay) there were nine, but only five (A-E) could be found. There are several hollows which Work believes mark the sites of others quarried away, but there is nothing to distinguish them from other surface quarries in the area.
'A' measures c.7.0m in diameter and is 0.6m high. The centre has been dug into and an ill-preserved cist, apparently of irregular shape, is partly exposed. The cap stone, a slab 2.1m x 1.3m, lies on the E side of the cairn.
'B' is 5.0m in diameter and 0.5m high. It is relatively undisturbed. 'C', the same size as 'B', has had its centre dug out, but no cist was found. (Information from Magnus Work, Newfield Cottage, Shapinsay)
'D' measures c.7.0m in diameter and is 0.7m high; its SE side is truncated by a small quarry. Stones protruding through the top were noticed by Work shortly after the first world war, and he cleared out a twin-compartmented cist containing human bones, some burnt. The cist, constructed mainly of slabs on edge, but partly of dry stone walling, measures 2.0m NNE-SSW by 1.4m internally, with a central bisecting slab There was no cover slab when Work dug it, indicating that it had been disturbed earlier.
'E' is 4.5m in diameter and 0.5m high. Work dug a slight hole into the side and exposed burnt stones, but these are no longer visible.
The cairns occur within a system of large irregular enclosures bounded by low peat-covered dykes, possibly the origin of the name Stentlaquoy, and presumably later than the cairns (see HY51NW 47).
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS(AA) 3 October 1972.
Field Visit (6 April 1994)
Five bowl-shaped mounds were recorded during the Orkney Barrows Project. A further two-three mounds were noted c.50m W of mounds 4 & 5. These were lumps of earth/peat with slabs - not obviously cists. They were very difficult to see and possibly damaged.
Stentlaquoy 1: Diameter 6.5m. Height 0.7m.
Stentlaquoy 2: Diameter 5.0m. Height 0.45m.
Stentlaquoy 3: Diameter 5.0m. Height 0.6m.
Stentlaquoy 4: Diameter 7.0m. Height 0.5m.
Stentlaquoy 5: Diameter 4.5m. Height 0.5m.
Some of the mounds have cists visible.
Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1994
