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Copinsay Farm, Copinsay
Midden(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Copinsay Farm, Copinsay
Classification Midden(S) (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 3252
Site Number HY60SW 3
NGR HY 608 015
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3252
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish St Andrews And Deerness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY60SW 3 608 015.
(HY 608 015) Several fairly large stones and a considerable deposit of cockle and other shells have been exposed on some rising ground near the sea shore, about 100 yds N of Copinsay farm house. The deposit is visible also for some distance along the face of the steep bank above the adjacent sea beach. Fragments of pottery and a bone needle were found here some years ago. The needle was about 4" long, slightly curved at the point and had a neatly drilled hole about 1/2" from the head. (J Mooney 1926).
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1930.
In the vicinity of Copinsay farm, three kitchen middens can be seen in the cliff edge.
At HY 6085 0157 (A) N of the farm, there are deposits of sea-shells, and 24.0m S of these, at HY 6083 0154 (B) there is a vast quantity of animal bones which has been buried until recent coastal erosion has revealed them, and many of the skeletons are almost whole.
About 25.0m W of the farmhouse, at HY 6077 0149 (C) there are further deposits of shells and small animal bones. Two sherds of plain, hand-formed pottery were found here.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 30 August 1964.
(HY 6077 0149) Pottery, Bones, Shells etc found (NAT)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1970).
The usual shell and animal bone and some pottery, of general 'Iron Age' type (i.e. anything from the last few centuries B C up to say 900 A D) have been found in midden 'C' by Mr Ian F Smith, Headmaster, Hope School, St Margaret's Hope, Orkney. He has retained a substantial part of the basal half of a pot in the School, and has donated some sherds to the NMAS.
Information from a letter and 6" plan from Dr J Close-Brooks, National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) to OS 14 January 1976
On either side of the lighthouse jetty below the farm, an extensive midden deposit is visible at three separate spots, and there is an exposure of burnt stones on the sandy surface immediately inland. In the northernmost midden Mooney records the finding, in the 1920s, of a bone needle with a peforated head.
J Mooney 1926; RCAHMS 1946; RCAHMS 1987, visited August 1964.
Orkney Smr Note
A kitchen midden was discovered by my holiday companion
(Ronald B Mooney) on Copinsay in the cliff banks not many yards to
the N of the Lighthouse jetty. Apparently part of it had fallen
from the top the banks, and had been washed away by the sea.
After scraping among the material he found besides the usual
animals and shells, pieces of ancient pottery, the beak of a sea
fowl, apparently shaped for some purpose and a beautiful specimen
of a bone needle which was about 4in long and had a hole drilled
about 0.5in from the head. [R1]
A Mound of Burnt Stones at Copinsay Farm about 100 yards to
the ENE of the farmhouse.
Kitchen Midden at Copinsay Farm - about 100 yards N of the
farmhouse at the landing-place on the island of Copinsay, some
rising ground close to the sea shore shows several fairly large
stones protruding from the turf, and, where the surface has been
broken by rabbits or otherwise, a considerable deposit is apparent
also for some distance along the face of the steep bank above the
sea beach adjacent to the site, but no traces of building can be
detected. Fragments of pottery and a bone needle, were found here
some years ago. The needle was about 4in long, slightly curved
at the point, and had a neatly drilled hole about 0.5in from the
head. [R2]
In the vicinity of Copinsay Farm in the cliff edge at (6090
0152)N of farm are deposits of sea shells and 24m S of these at
(6088 0150) is a vast quantity of animal bones which have been
buried until recent coastal erosion has revealed them and many of
the skeletons are almost whole.
About 25m W of the farmhouse at (6079 0144) are further
deposits, shells and small animal bones. Here two sherds of plain
hard formed pottery were found. OS visit August 1964.
All that remains is a vague circular scatter of burnt stones
on an eroded sand dune near shore. Stones are in centre of an
area of midden heaps. Which suggests culinary associations.
OS visit August 1964.
Believed locally that these burnt stones are remnants of a
beacon fire lit by inhabitants when aid was required from the
mainland. OS visit May 1973.
Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]
