Sunday, November 30, 2003
Going down to Inganess in Orkney this afternoon and at the point on the hill where the whole of the bay is first seen I looked out and saw something passing strange . On the left and about as far from the wrecked ship as this is from the main shoreline there was a strong wake running parallel to the waves ( that far out these did not show , only swelling up and turning into boomers closer inshore ) . Then I saw the cause of the wake . This looked like a small white broad-bottomed boat upturned . But my first thought was a lifeboat exercise . There was an impression of speed as it went towards some rocks further left . And then it sank down . I thought it was practising recovery . Only it never popped back up . Nothing the whole time I was walking about Inganess Bay .
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Time to eat humble pie - went back to CANMAP and now alongside the remains of St.Mary's they alsow show Grimeston/Biggings Broch . Another mystery solve et coagula .
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Harray Loch Sites
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Pass over the new Viewpoint and you come to a mound maybe half the height of Maes Howe but in the past I feel more a centre of the human landscape , as you can tell if you look around from the top . Though it doesn't appear on RCAHMS extensive list of all kinds of sites there are obvious signs of previous diggings . To an archaeologist friend of mine I mentioned it and he said he'd been there and thought it a possible broch , but when I reported the non-appearance officially of the site he said perhaps this was what had been referred to as the remains of St.Mary's further along . What I forgot to tell him was that in the excavated depression atop the mound I had found a very small section of structure ( just two or three bits of slab really ) that certainly seemed more prehistoric than ecclesiastical . Another time I found a large stone in what was left of a trench on the landward side . In the lochside adjoining the mound at suitable tides , can be seen a rectangular structure , perhaps mediaeval , under the water .
Recently I found the mapped remains of St.Mary's accessible and so took the chance to investigate . This mound isn't so prominent , more than a rise but less than a tump . There are two levels to it . The stones are on the smaller higher piece on the left . Mostly all that is left is the one course . Coming up to it the immediate impression is of a circular structure , which seems passing strange . The section of which more than a course remains has a distinct curve . Perhaps it is a peedier version of the Round Church in Orphir . Or an oratory ? Perhaps I read the map badly and maybe the church site is on the present shore itself . But I am reminded of a Friends of Archaeological Trust talk earlier this year where an archaeologist looking into ecclesiastical sites indicated on the map mentioned that a number of the named ones turned out not to be so upon investigation .
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Pass over the new Viewpoint and you come to a mound maybe half the height of Maes Howe but in the past I feel more a centre of the human landscape , as you can tell if you look around from the top . Though it doesn't appear on RCAHMS extensive list of all kinds of sites there are obvious signs of previous diggings . To an archaeologist friend of mine I mentioned it and he said he'd been there and thought it a possible broch , but when I reported the non-appearance officially of the site he said perhaps this was what had been referred to as the remains of St.Mary's further along . What I forgot to tell him was that in the excavated depression atop the mound I had found a very small section of structure ( just two or three bits of slab really ) that certainly seemed more prehistoric than ecclesiastical . Another time I found a large stone in what was left of a trench on the landward side . In the lochside adjoining the mound at suitable tides , can be seen a rectangular structure , perhaps mediaeval , under the water .
Recently I found the mapped remains of St.Mary's accessible and so took the chance to investigate . This mound isn't so prominent , more than a rise but less than a tump . There are two levels to it . The stones are on the smaller higher piece on the left . Mostly all that is left is the one course . Coming up to it the immediate impression is of a circular structure , which seems passing strange . The section of which more than a course remains has a distinct curve . Perhaps it is a peedier version of the Round Church in Orphir . Or an oratory ? Perhaps I read the map badly and maybe the church site is on the present shore itself . But I am reminded of a Friends of Archaeological Trust talk earlier this year where an archaeologist looking into ecclesiastical sites indicated on the map mentioned that a number of the named ones turned out not to be so upon investigation .
