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Shapinsay, 'castle Bloody'

Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)

Site Name Shapinsay, 'castle Bloody'

Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)

Canmore ID 3096

Site Number HY51NW 4

NGR HY 5359 1643

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3096

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

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

Archaeology Notes

HY51NW 4 5359 1643.

(HY 5358 1644) Castle Bloody (NR) (Site of)

OS 6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1900).

A mound, about 40' in diameter and 5'6" high containing a small chamber which was discovered by breaking through a roof of large flat slabs. The chamber, oriented N-S, had been originally entered from the SE by a lintelled passage. A second and much lower passage, blocked by debris, led from the N end of the chamber, turning NE after a short distance.

It is said to have been the site of an old "Pict's House or Fort".

(Name Book 1880).

RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928.

"Castle Bloody": A turf-covered chambered cairn c13.0m in diameter and 1.2m high, surmounted by a modern marker cairn. The chamber, E of centre, has at one time been broken into through the roof, but it is now full of earth and debris and its plan cannot now be determined.

The axis of the chamber is N-S. Four or five cap stones are still in situ and the corbelled dry stone work of the walls of the chamber can be seen to a depth of 0.3m at two points near the N end.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS(AA) 3 October 1972.

The interpretation of this site would appear to be of a stony mound some 13m in diameter and 1.2m high, in which, and E of centre, is a passage leading to a cell, with apparently other cells or recesses on each side of it, and roofed by large capstones. Four or five broken capstones rest on drystone walls of the passage, the height of which is difficult to judge from the amount of debris infill; but in places four or five courses can be seen.

The passage, oriented N-S, curves slightly and is about 0.6m wide on average. About 4m from where it is uncovered on the S side of the mound, it enters the cell which in turn is approached by a 0.9 by 0.9m passage entrance. The cell could only be measured approximately, as entry was only partially possible. It appears to be roughly rectangular on plan measuring some 1.5m E-W by by 0.9m. It appears to be corbelled and capped by large slabs.

This is not a chambered cairn, but seems akin to the type of monument (a mound containing a souterrain or chambers) such as at Ham, Caithness (ND27SW 1) or Midgarth (HY32SE 6). (Confirmed by A S Henshall).

Visited by OS(JLD) 18 May 1981

This prominent mound, 13m in diameter and 1.2m high, conspicuous upon a summit in the remaining unimproved moorland in the SE corner of Shapinsay, is difficult to interpret. Before 1928, Mr M Work, Newfield Cottage, removed some massive slabs, which proved to be roofing of a chamber lying N-S. This had an entrance-passage on the SE and a smaller passage leading off from its N end. Few details can now be confirmed, as the chamber is entirely blocked by a capstone dIsplaced since the OS visit in 1972. The small passage at the N end is traceable for about 1m and seems to lead to a depression, filled with loose-packed rubble with voids, which may be a second chamber. Without excavation, however, it is impossible to offer an interpretation of this interesting structure.

RCAHMS 1987, visited July 1984

Activities

Orkney Smr Note (July 1984)

Exterior appearance as described. The central chamber is

blocked by a fallen capstone, displaced since the OS visit

because it obscures details recorded by them. The second and

much lower passage can be seen running for about 1m NE from the

broken-in part of the chamber. Here there is a depression with

several open voids, as if caused by the collapse of another

chamber or at least a wide passage. No sign of entrance passage.

- This is a puzzling site. The main chamber has no stall-slabs

and might almost be an earth-house; but the prominent siting and

clear-cut mound are more suggestive of a chambered tomb than of a

settlement. It may perhaps be a Maeshowe-type tomb with the

second passage serving a side chamber.

Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Jul 84.

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