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Mangaster
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Site Name Mangaster
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Canmore ID 829
Site Number HU37SW 2
NGR HU 3271 7086
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/829
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Northmavine
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HU37SW 2 3271 7086.
HU 328 709. A heel-shaped chambered cairn lies on the hillside at nearly 250' OD above the farm buildings and enclosed land at Mangaster.
The cairn has been almost totally removed and only a few stones remain projecting through the heather, to a maximum height of about 3'. Some of these are earthfast and indicate the plan. The maximum width is about 17' and the length is about 21'.
A S Henshall 1963; RCAHMS 1946; T H Bryce 1940.
HU 3271 7088, As described and planned by Henshall.
Visited by OS(WDJ) 27th May 1968.
Field Visit (19 June 1931)
Heel-shaped Cairn, Mangaster.
On the hillside at Gruna Vird, about 250 yds. N.W. of the farm buildings of Mangaster, is a much dilapidated cairn which seems to have belonged to the "heel-shaped" class (Fig. 611). On the S. side four large stones of the facade apparently survive in situ, while three others, lying at right angles to these and in alinement with one another, are probably relics of the W wall of a passage that led to a chamber now almost completely destroyed. To judge from the position of a few boulders scattered on the W and NE, which may be taken as indicating the setting surrounding the cairn, its over-all diameter was about 21 ft.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 19 June 1931.
Measured Survey (1931)
A measured sketch by RCAHMS of the Mangaster chambered cairn taken c.1931 was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced size (Bryce 1940, fig.4b; RCAHMS 1946, fig. 616).
