Hunda, The Cairn Head
Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Hunda, The Cairn Head
Classification Broch (Iron Age)(Possible), Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 9584
Site Number ND49NW 1
NGR ND 4340 9615
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9584
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish South Ronaldsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
ND49NW 1 4340 9615.
(ND 4340 9616) Brough (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map (1900)
A much mutilated mound about 5' high is still visible here but no structural features are distinguishable now.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1929
Described by Low as "the ruins of a circular building".
G Low 1774
A chambered cairn measuring 20.0m in diameter and 1.8m maximum height. In the mutilated centre the tops of 3 slabs protrude for about 0.3m, evidently the back slab and two others of a stalled chamber. A modern marker cairn has been built on the SE arc.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (IMT) 18 May 1973
This is a broch.
D Fraser and A Morrison 1980
This stony mound does not appear to have been a chambered cairn, nor are there any structural features (eg wall faces) to indicate that it had been a broch. The centre of the mound has been quarried revealing the 3 upright slabs whose positions and orientation do not suggest a chamber, but the large NE slab and the smaller one to the SE, possibly indicate one side each of 2 cists. Equally, the mound shows signs of having been used as a domestic structure and it is possible that the slabs may be contemporary with this usage.
On balance, until excavated, it would appear to have been a cairn with a secondary intrusion.
Visited by OS (JLD) 14 May 1981
ND 434 961 Cairn, denuded, prehistoric.
ND 434 961 Large mound, disturbed, prehistoric cairn.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Orkney Archaeological Trust
G Wilson and H Moore 1997
Field Visit (August 1997)
The classification of this site as a cairn is tentative: during this survey opinion was divided as to whether the site was that of a broch or a chambered cairn was represented - this debate is also evident in earlier records. It has been described as a cairn on the basis that there was no sign of a broch wall and there were no clearly anthropogenic deposits visible in the small exposures. The true nature of this site, however, is unlikely to be determined without recourse to excavation.
The site is clearly visible, being a large artificial mound built on top of a natural rise at the southern tip of Hunda. It measures some 15m in diameter and stands up to 2m high. A large quantity of loose stone is strewn around the immediate area whilst both in-situ and disturbed structural stone is visible to the hollowed centre. The mound is denuded of vegetation in several places, apparently the result of human and animal disturbance. A loose stone cairn has been erected to the S side of the mound in recent times. The mound provides fine views across to the north coast of South Ronaldsay and Muckle Howe broch.
Moore and Wilson, 1997
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey
Publication Account (2002)
ND49 6 HUNDA
ND/434962
Possible broch on South Ronaldsay I., in the shape of a much disturbed mound on the tidal islet of that name. It has been diagnosed as a chambered cairn [1] but a more recent report supports the idea [2] that it may be a the remains of a broch [1, 3].
Sources: 1. OS card ND 49 NW 1, inc. fig.: 2. RCAHMS 1946 2, no. 863, 295: 3. D. Fraser and A. Morrison in Disc. and Exc. Scot. 1980, 26.
E W MacKie 2002
Orkney Smr Note
On the point that looks towards Hoxa we see still the ruins
of a circular building much resembling but much less than that we
observed at Hoxa in South Ronaldsha, and near it the ruins of some
walls of very ordinary houses, but which seem to have no concern
with the hillock or ruin. What is now to be seen of most of these
I have yet had occasion to examine, appears nothing more than a
confused heap of rubbish except in some a small part of the
foundation can be traced, but this is rare. This is in full view
of Hoxa....Hunda, which is in sight of a small work of the same
kind in Burra, but with the addition of a rampart yet
discernable.... [R1]
OS map (cxx) places broch on point at S end of Hunda. Much
disturbed mound 5ft high visible there. No structural features
now distinguishable. [R2]
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]
