Shapinsay, "unyatuak"
Mound (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Shapinsay, "unyatuak"
Classification Mound (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 3099
Site Number HY51NW 7
NGR HY 5245 1983
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3099
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Shapinsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY51NW 7 5245 1983.
(HY 5243 1982) Unyatauk (NR)
OS 6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.,(1900).
A well-shaped mound, 29ft in diameter and 3ft 6in. high standing on top of the hill due W of Bonnyhill. It is said to be the site of an old "Pictish Fort". (Name Book 1880).
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928
A prominently situated earthen mound known as "Unyatuak". It has been mutilated exposing its earthen content, but still measures c.10.0m in diameter and 0.7m high. The centre is occupied by the denuded remains of a circular stone structure c.3.0m in diameter, probably the remnants of a modern marker cairn. The situation is a good one for a barrow, but there is no knowledge of anything having been found in the mound.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS(AA) 1 October 1972
From its prominent situation on a summit 200m W of Bonnyhill, this circular mound, some 10m across and 0.7m high, is likely to be a burial mound. It has been much damaged by the trampling of cattle, and this has revealed that it is largely composed of earth.
RCAHMS 1946; 1987, visited July 1984
Field Visit (6 May 1994)
A visit to this bowl-shaped mound during the course of the Orkney Barrows Project noted much charcoal in the soil around the mound, which may be a prodict of the site's use as a beacon.
The mound measures 10.0m by 11.5m and is 0.6m in height. It is very prominent on the skyline and is visble for c.2km to the SW and SE.
Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1994
