Wednesday, May 24, 2006
BROCH OF LINGRO UPDATE
When I walked the coastal path by the distillery in February the field between it and Lingro had been newly ploughed and seeded. As I result soilmarks and exposed stone plainly showed where the broch and settlement had been. On the flat section you could furthermore see the contrast between the area where the broch tower had been and that of the outworks, all picked out in stone scatter besides. Stone scatter was seen on the rise (?moraine) above and again on the rise above that, but walking further along I noticed when alongside these that the stones in the higher rise were a magnitude larger than those in the lower scatter so perhaps not to be associated with the broch. These two sets end where there is a long natural rectangular bite of a cliff, the fieldwall following the three sides. A few years back I noticed stones projecting from the modern ground surface by the NE end about a metre from the wall (i.e. closer to the cliff), mostly darker than those of the fieldwall, that appeared to be the remains of a previous wall. This is much reduced but a higher level than the presumably submerged wall foundation. Since the footpath has been renovated several further stretches of this wall/feature have been exposed. On one by the northern side (HY43370871) 6-12" high I now found a ~4x1.2m collection of stones far bigger than those making up either wall - ranging from 23-29½ by 16-23" by 3-10" - and definitely not from either, clean of lichen as well.. Not sure whether I missed these before or the path renovation has disclosed them, but they are certainly not there naturally and were once presumably structural. Coming back I noticed in the top of the modern wall further down (HY43420872) what could be a pivot stone. It measures 15x5½x5" and the circular depresssion is 1¼ across and 1" deep, which is too small for a main broch door.
When I walked the coastal path by the distillery in February the field between it and Lingro had been newly ploughed and seeded. As I result soilmarks and exposed stone plainly showed where the broch and settlement had been. On the flat section you could furthermore see the contrast between the area where the broch tower had been and that of the outworks, all picked out in stone scatter besides. Stone scatter was seen on the rise (?moraine) above and again on the rise above that, but walking further along I noticed when alongside these that the stones in the higher rise were a magnitude larger than those in the lower scatter so perhaps not to be associated with the broch. These two sets end where there is a long natural rectangular bite of a cliff, the fieldwall following the three sides. A few years back I noticed stones projecting from the modern ground surface by the NE end about a metre from the wall (i.e. closer to the cliff), mostly darker than those of the fieldwall, that appeared to be the remains of a previous wall. This is much reduced but a higher level than the presumably submerged wall foundation. Since the footpath has been renovated several further stretches of this wall/feature have been exposed. On one by the northern side (HY43370871) 6-12" high I now found a ~4x1.2m collection of stones far bigger than those making up either wall - ranging from 23-29½ by 16-23" by 3-10" - and definitely not from either, clean of lichen as well.. Not sure whether I missed these before or the path renovation has disclosed them, but they are certainly not there naturally and were once presumably structural. Coming back I noticed in the top of the modern wall further down (HY43420872) what could be a pivot stone. It measures 15x5½x5" and the circular depresssion is 1¼ across and 1" deep, which is too small for a main broch door.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
March 29th, April 3rd 2006 CISTMET - Crantit,Newbigging
At the border of Kirkwall if you take the Old Scapa Road to Orphir is the welcome sign on your right, and in the fieldwall corner in the 1st O.S. a stone is shown. But there is no trace there anymore. Same thing with the well( HY44181007), probably a wellspring, shown in the centre of the field, though there are several possible dips for it site there. Must have been of some importance as in 1882 there was a track going from the road to it alone (going out the other side of Kirkwall there was an actual coaching inn - the building is still there but curiously lacks any signage for the visitor, it would be a tourist feature elsewhere in Britain surely).
In the next field along a central patch is unploughed. IIRC on CANMAP not long ago it was still down as an unknown building, but despite where it is shown now this is the Crantit tomb (out of deference to the farmer or safety I asume) of lightbox and "Time Team" fame. Still thinking it to be an abandoned dwelling I now visited it, having only perused through binoculars or digital camera before, whilst the lower half of the field remained unploughed. Pile of stones around the edge of the rectangular 'wasteground'. Then in the middle some more organised stonework and a slab. Hoping I had found an unmarked well I gingerly lifted the latter. Took a few seconds for it to sink in that this must be the tomb. Almost too neat-looking. I suspected a re-built top but a look at photos on the FOAT website re-assures me all is well. Unfortunately there is no way outside of your own ladder to go inside, and even lying down and leaning far over the edge I could only see a matter of inches along the floor past the area of the opening. Probably not a tomb to enter, during the dig it had to be well propped up and the excavator is pleasantly surprised it still survives. After a snowfall blown from an unusual direction there were several interesting indications of features in the tomb field.
A long mound at the edge of the next field along looks promising, for the field boundary diverts around its northern end, but the geofizz performed in 1988 showed nothing there. The Crantit cists (a single and a double) came from the field's southern edge. The old map shows an ?earthwork (HY43880997) uphill near the western edge, and by the corner before the St.Olaf junction is a rough hollow several yards long that the farmer never touches.
So up the St.Olaf cemetery road. Along from the corner property there are modern houses along the rise at the field edge, and CANMAP shows the cists (HY40NW 3) as having come from here rather than further along as it used to. I assume that this is because it was found out that though the locations were given in terms of yards N of the road but so many paces along the road. However at school I was taught that as a measurement a pace consists of two steps. I paced out accordingly and came to the previous spot, which better matches their being on the shoulder of a hill. And this pacing shows them being at the end of two different moraines. You come to the track up to Glenair, Tofts Cottage on the O.S."Explorer" but simply Tofts in 1882. The first of the cists was next to where the top corner of the newer houses are and the next a few yards further up above the track. If the NMRS is wrong about the Newbigging (now Braehead) barrow's location (being 11 chains from the Crantit cists according to a newspaper report, rather than 22 as per the monuments record) then on the given heading it (record HY40NW 4, a 30'D x5~6' mound with a single and double cist) came from the field in which Tofts Cottage sat, just above it, making a tighter grouping. CANMAP places this site instead in a field above the first half of the cemetery [above this position used to be Warbister/Warbuster (record HY40NW 28) that gave its name to a broch that used to be by the burn below].
It does get even stranger because the two Newbigging sites, records HY40NW 4 and HY41SW 8 (a cist with urn), according to the P.S.A.S. article both came from the same field ! Swinging round from Tofts Cottage only slightly N of the given WNW direction to the field of the Crantit cists of 1909 and 1924 would bring you to the earthwork on the 1882 map. As record HY41SW 8 position is only given as a 4-figure grid reference my suggestion is that all three sites come from the one field we have now. In 1855 a farmer found a cist containing an urn with burnt bones and ashes. Seeing several barrows in the area, and knowing the neighbourhood had produced a human skeleton some time before, Petrie had the man open a few and tell him when he found a cist (one wonders if anything else was found in these ?). He duly reported when some graves were found. On excavation the clay bowl barrow gave up a single and a double cist. In 1882 we have a circular feature in 'our' field. In 1909 another double cist came from this field. In 1924 a single cist was found close by. That is my interpretation of the information from the various sources.
Down the brae some of the broch of Warbuster (which is, alas, no longer) was used to build a new steading at the east side of Tofts Farm i.e. at the left as you see it from the cemetery road. However only Tofts [Cottage] appears on the 1882 map. There is a large building where Tofts Farm is now, but with no name or other map legend attached to it. One set of co-ordinnates would seem to place a Borwick here at an earlier time, a direct reference to the broch of course. Going past the cemetery and the cottage is Orquil Farm, entirely new since the 1st O.S. (perhaps arising from the saw mill, likely where the millstream type walling is) - Peedie Orquil used to be plain Orquil (there was a dovecote near it, a good indicator of mediaeval origin I imagine).
Anyway, just before you reach the Orquil Farm a wide track goes northwards, and I followed this uphill and through fields. In 1971 a souterrain (record HY40NW 7) was found in the field a little behind the farm. Actually the newspaper report uses the term gallery grave, which was once applied to the likes of Rennibister and Grain, but as a comparison with the Taversoe Tuick tomb for being "two-storey". Perhaps it was an indeterminate, like Petrie's Lingrow tomb that was overmuch dug into before his time and sounds like a possible earth-house instead (or, like The Howe, as well). I looked without seeing any indications of where this had been - the site was apparently levelled, but as is often the case you are left unsure whether in practice this meant rendered safe by filling in or simply being demolished.
A very damp and muddy walk not good for the shoes. At the top of the field a straight water-course runs across the hill. Fortunately a level bridge crosses this to allow you into the next field. Walking along the edge of this I am suddenly surprised on my right by a hulking long mound, nothing on the map indicating this. It occupies most of a field, going nearly diagonally roughly between the 50 and 60 contour lines. Much too big to be man-made and missed by archaeology, much too tempting not to have been used for burials and such. Definitely a place you can inagine as a natural theatre for ye olde ritual activities, this towering aspect missing from any other viewing (as I afterwards establish). Not much space left for any barrows. At this western end a great rectangular bite has been taken out of it with two very thick wooden posts to either side in front. Through binoculars I glimpse large stones in the cutting, and at this time I was still looking for Newbigging stuff in this area. But with sheep about I left without entering the space. Followed the field boundary towards Kirkwall and found myself near the riding centre then passing at the back of Walliwall Quarry. Had to climb a gate, mud churned up here but still a better way to come than the way I had done !
Next time I came by the quarry first, the 'mound' is practically invisible until you are almost on it. Coming down it is obvious that this track once was a set of burns, wider and deeper and more complicated than the likes of Orquil or Lingro in the valley below. Probably not held water since before the arrival of man - an old cart road from Groundwater in Orphir joined the public road at the quarry. Perhaps a traveller's way at least as far back as the Viking period, for after the cortege with Mansie's body (St.Magnus) left Caldale this would make a good route for Kirkwall to avoid 'living' burns. That said there is a large pond by the central portion of the 'mound's uphill side which momentarily put me in mind of Kongarsknowe in Orphir.
And finally I am able to enter the 'mound's territory. Disappointed to find that the cutting's sides seem mostly rock outcrop. Still puzzled as to why the 'bite' is there, apart from the posts there is no sign of activity and the larger loose slabs don't particularly speak of antiquity up close. Could be something was planned but the geology put a (?temporary) halt to this (reminded of the silage pit at Linnahowe). More luck after I clambered atop the thing. Next to the 'bite' I observed a depression. On closer inspection I saw two, one of 2 by 2.5m and the other less clearly defined 1.5 by 0.6-1.2m. Or perhaps rather two halves. Standing between them could see a rim 12.5 by 6.5m that appears as a rise from below, whose long axis does recall that Newbigging mound. Towards the other end was another possible excavation pit.
Next I walked around the base of the feature. Near the lower end I spotted a distinct circular bump a metre or two across with a flat not quite central slab showing inclined within. Going to, it definitely lies in a very shallow depression, and there is a protruding stone just within or without the rim. Went for a closer look at the pond the other side of the 'mound' and as well as a couple of small rocky outcrops there were also about it other stones whose nature I was unsure of. The pond is only one end of a larger feature defined by marshy plants.
At the border of Kirkwall if you take the Old Scapa Road to Orphir is the welcome sign on your right, and in the fieldwall corner in the 1st O.S. a stone is shown. But there is no trace there anymore. Same thing with the well( HY44181007), probably a wellspring, shown in the centre of the field, though there are several possible dips for it site there. Must have been of some importance as in 1882 there was a track going from the road to it alone (going out the other side of Kirkwall there was an actual coaching inn - the building is still there but curiously lacks any signage for the visitor, it would be a tourist feature elsewhere in Britain surely).
In the next field along a central patch is unploughed. IIRC on CANMAP not long ago it was still down as an unknown building, but despite where it is shown now this is the Crantit tomb (out of deference to the farmer or safety I asume) of lightbox and "Time Team" fame. Still thinking it to be an abandoned dwelling I now visited it, having only perused through binoculars or digital camera before, whilst the lower half of the field remained unploughed. Pile of stones around the edge of the rectangular 'wasteground'. Then in the middle some more organised stonework and a slab. Hoping I had found an unmarked well I gingerly lifted the latter. Took a few seconds for it to sink in that this must be the tomb. Almost too neat-looking. I suspected a re-built top but a look at photos on the FOAT website re-assures me all is well. Unfortunately there is no way outside of your own ladder to go inside, and even lying down and leaning far over the edge I could only see a matter of inches along the floor past the area of the opening. Probably not a tomb to enter, during the dig it had to be well propped up and the excavator is pleasantly surprised it still survives. After a snowfall blown from an unusual direction there were several interesting indications of features in the tomb field.
A long mound at the edge of the next field along looks promising, for the field boundary diverts around its northern end, but the geofizz performed in 1988 showed nothing there. The Crantit cists (a single and a double) came from the field's southern edge. The old map shows an ?earthwork (HY43880997) uphill near the western edge, and by the corner before the St.Olaf junction is a rough hollow several yards long that the farmer never touches.
So up the St.Olaf cemetery road. Along from the corner property there are modern houses along the rise at the field edge, and CANMAP shows the cists (HY40NW 3) as having come from here rather than further along as it used to. I assume that this is because it was found out that though the locations were given in terms of yards N of the road but so many paces along the road. However at school I was taught that as a measurement a pace consists of two steps. I paced out accordingly and came to the previous spot, which better matches their being on the shoulder of a hill. And this pacing shows them being at the end of two different moraines. You come to the track up to Glenair, Tofts Cottage on the O.S."Explorer" but simply Tofts in 1882. The first of the cists was next to where the top corner of the newer houses are and the next a few yards further up above the track. If the NMRS is wrong about the Newbigging (now Braehead) barrow's location (being 11 chains from the Crantit cists according to a newspaper report, rather than 22 as per the monuments record) then on the given heading it (record HY40NW 4, a 30'D x5~6' mound with a single and double cist) came from the field in which Tofts Cottage sat, just above it, making a tighter grouping. CANMAP places this site instead in a field above the first half of the cemetery [above this position used to be Warbister/Warbuster (record HY40NW 28) that gave its name to a broch that used to be by the burn below].
It does get even stranger because the two Newbigging sites, records HY40NW 4 and HY41SW 8 (a cist with urn), according to the P.S.A.S. article both came from the same field ! Swinging round from Tofts Cottage only slightly N of the given WNW direction to the field of the Crantit cists of 1909 and 1924 would bring you to the earthwork on the 1882 map. As record HY41SW 8 position is only given as a 4-figure grid reference my suggestion is that all three sites come from the one field we have now. In 1855 a farmer found a cist containing an urn with burnt bones and ashes. Seeing several barrows in the area, and knowing the neighbourhood had produced a human skeleton some time before, Petrie had the man open a few and tell him when he found a cist (one wonders if anything else was found in these ?). He duly reported when some graves were found. On excavation the clay bowl barrow gave up a single and a double cist. In 1882 we have a circular feature in 'our' field. In 1909 another double cist came from this field. In 1924 a single cist was found close by. That is my interpretation of the information from the various sources.
Down the brae some of the broch of Warbuster (which is, alas, no longer) was used to build a new steading at the east side of Tofts Farm i.e. at the left as you see it from the cemetery road. However only Tofts [Cottage] appears on the 1882 map. There is a large building where Tofts Farm is now, but with no name or other map legend attached to it. One set of co-ordinnates would seem to place a Borwick here at an earlier time, a direct reference to the broch of course. Going past the cemetery and the cottage is Orquil Farm, entirely new since the 1st O.S. (perhaps arising from the saw mill, likely where the millstream type walling is) - Peedie Orquil used to be plain Orquil (there was a dovecote near it, a good indicator of mediaeval origin I imagine).
Anyway, just before you reach the Orquil Farm a wide track goes northwards, and I followed this uphill and through fields. In 1971 a souterrain (record HY40NW 7) was found in the field a little behind the farm. Actually the newspaper report uses the term gallery grave, which was once applied to the likes of Rennibister and Grain, but as a comparison with the Taversoe Tuick tomb for being "two-storey". Perhaps it was an indeterminate, like Petrie's Lingrow tomb that was overmuch dug into before his time and sounds like a possible earth-house instead (or, like The Howe, as well). I looked without seeing any indications of where this had been - the site was apparently levelled, but as is often the case you are left unsure whether in practice this meant rendered safe by filling in or simply being demolished.
A very damp and muddy walk not good for the shoes. At the top of the field a straight water-course runs across the hill. Fortunately a level bridge crosses this to allow you into the next field. Walking along the edge of this I am suddenly surprised on my right by a hulking long mound, nothing on the map indicating this. It occupies most of a field, going nearly diagonally roughly between the 50 and 60 contour lines. Much too big to be man-made and missed by archaeology, much too tempting not to have been used for burials and such. Definitely a place you can inagine as a natural theatre for ye olde ritual activities, this towering aspect missing from any other viewing (as I afterwards establish). Not much space left for any barrows. At this western end a great rectangular bite has been taken out of it with two very thick wooden posts to either side in front. Through binoculars I glimpse large stones in the cutting, and at this time I was still looking for Newbigging stuff in this area. But with sheep about I left without entering the space. Followed the field boundary towards Kirkwall and found myself near the riding centre then passing at the back of Walliwall Quarry. Had to climb a gate, mud churned up here but still a better way to come than the way I had done !
Next time I came by the quarry first, the 'mound' is practically invisible until you are almost on it. Coming down it is obvious that this track once was a set of burns, wider and deeper and more complicated than the likes of Orquil or Lingro in the valley below. Probably not held water since before the arrival of man - an old cart road from Groundwater in Orphir joined the public road at the quarry. Perhaps a traveller's way at least as far back as the Viking period, for after the cortege with Mansie's body (St.Magnus) left Caldale this would make a good route for Kirkwall to avoid 'living' burns. That said there is a large pond by the central portion of the 'mound's uphill side which momentarily put me in mind of Kongarsknowe in Orphir.
And finally I am able to enter the 'mound's territory. Disappointed to find that the cutting's sides seem mostly rock outcrop. Still puzzled as to why the 'bite' is there, apart from the posts there is no sign of activity and the larger loose slabs don't particularly speak of antiquity up close. Could be something was planned but the geology put a (?temporary) halt to this (reminded of the silage pit at Linnahowe). More luck after I clambered atop the thing. Next to the 'bite' I observed a depression. On closer inspection I saw two, one of 2 by 2.5m and the other less clearly defined 1.5 by 0.6-1.2m. Or perhaps rather two halves. Standing between them could see a rim 12.5 by 6.5m that appears as a rise from below, whose long axis does recall that Newbigging mound. Towards the other end was another possible excavation pit.
Next I walked around the base of the feature. Near the lower end I spotted a distinct circular bump a metre or two across with a flat not quite central slab showing inclined within. Going to, it definitely lies in a very shallow depression, and there is a protruding stone just within or without the rim. Went for a closer look at the pond the other side of the 'mound' and as well as a couple of small rocky outcrops there were also about it other stones whose nature I was unsure of. The pond is only one end of a larger feature defined by marshy plants.
Friday, May 12, 2006
HILLHEAD VISIT
Go out of town on the South Isles road past the Highland Park distillery and before reaching the Tradespark junction enter the field on the downhill side of the road opposite. Cut diagonally across this to the gap at the corner behind Hillhead (of Scapa) House.
Striking off right downhill on another diagonal takes you to the site of the long-gone well in front of whose vanished place a decorated stone ball was found almost as long ago. You have to wonder what yet remained to mark it out - was it demolished ruins or simply (like Crossiecrown) filled in with rubble ? Could it be that the 'new' well of 20th century vintage does occupy the self-same site hidden from view. Unfortunately this has an airtight seal at the top of the circular concrete 'plug', overlying a symmetric well of drystane walling the same diameter. In the same hollow the hut has been removed to expose the concrete foundation below (hopefully nothing destructive is intended for this place). Connecting this and the well are flags that go under the former hut's foundation. About the modern constructions lie many stones of older times, but are they from here or brought in from elsewhere. One I am struck by is a dark slab with a rectangular section out of one corner that reminds me of a re-usable form of cist. I would dearly have the ball to have a proper context but this might be stretching matters. The exposed section of hollow above the modern stuff seems curiously empty (like bared parts of the enclosure), only a few protruding stones with an earthfast boulder at the back of curious colouration.
Looking across the hill with your back to Kirkwall you can see the nearby enclosure, once considered a fort by those who saw it a little better than we. Standing a little above the well hollow provides the best view of the Hillhead site's profile, better detail at least than that of the half below the house. Is one looking at two banks and a ditch or a bank and two ditches, no-one is totally convincing and if any excavation was done it was way back and very slight. Going over it you fell that the earthworks have discontinuities, let us say. Definitely in need of a detailed contour map rather than gauging by eye. Near the drystane wall you are conscious of a wide flattened section on either side that goes downhill without seeming to break the enclosure otherwise. One assumes that this came about when the original Well Park was divided up, and further that material from the enclosure would have been robbed to form the wall itself. To see the other half of the site you have to go back up beside the wall to the house and down into next field. It appears to be a smaller 'half', and as mentioned before presents a much less detailed appearance. Also there are only a couple of bared areas. Similar to the bank/ditch dichotomy we cannot tell if the relative 'smoothness' represents more of the original form surviving or, conversely, the greater subsequent subjection to the hand of man.
I wonder if the Hillhead of Crantit was a similar site to Hillhead - between that tidgy hollow the old O.S. miscalls a quarry and the distillery there is a curve to the hill that looks suspiciously regular and the earthwork at the ruined steading's uphill side could be where a bank has been cut by the road ?
Go out of town on the South Isles road past the Highland Park distillery and before reaching the Tradespark junction enter the field on the downhill side of the road opposite. Cut diagonally across this to the gap at the corner behind Hillhead (of Scapa) House.
Striking off right downhill on another diagonal takes you to the site of the long-gone well in front of whose vanished place a decorated stone ball was found almost as long ago. You have to wonder what yet remained to mark it out - was it demolished ruins or simply (like Crossiecrown) filled in with rubble ? Could it be that the 'new' well of 20th century vintage does occupy the self-same site hidden from view. Unfortunately this has an airtight seal at the top of the circular concrete 'plug', overlying a symmetric well of drystane walling the same diameter. In the same hollow the hut has been removed to expose the concrete foundation below (hopefully nothing destructive is intended for this place). Connecting this and the well are flags that go under the former hut's foundation. About the modern constructions lie many stones of older times, but are they from here or brought in from elsewhere. One I am struck by is a dark slab with a rectangular section out of one corner that reminds me of a re-usable form of cist. I would dearly have the ball to have a proper context but this might be stretching matters. The exposed section of hollow above the modern stuff seems curiously empty (like bared parts of the enclosure), only a few protruding stones with an earthfast boulder at the back of curious colouration.
Looking across the hill with your back to Kirkwall you can see the nearby enclosure, once considered a fort by those who saw it a little better than we. Standing a little above the well hollow provides the best view of the Hillhead site's profile, better detail at least than that of the half below the house. Is one looking at two banks and a ditch or a bank and two ditches, no-one is totally convincing and if any excavation was done it was way back and very slight. Going over it you fell that the earthworks have discontinuities, let us say. Definitely in need of a detailed contour map rather than gauging by eye. Near the drystane wall you are conscious of a wide flattened section on either side that goes downhill without seeming to break the enclosure otherwise. One assumes that this came about when the original Well Park was divided up, and further that material from the enclosure would have been robbed to form the wall itself. To see the other half of the site you have to go back up beside the wall to the house and down into next field. It appears to be a smaller 'half', and as mentioned before presents a much less detailed appearance. Also there are only a couple of bared areas. Similar to the bank/ditch dichotomy we cannot tell if the relative 'smoothness' represents more of the original form surviving or, conversely, the greater subsequent subjection to the hand of man.
I wonder if the Hillhead of Crantit was a similar site to Hillhead - between that tidgy hollow the old O.S. miscalls a quarry and the distillery there is a curve to the hill that looks suspiciously regular and the earthwork at the ruined steading's uphill side could be where a bank has been cut by the road ?
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
HALL OF GORN
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40SE 2 consists of three barrows. The main one, at HY48370261, is a black earth and clay mound about 40x50' by 5'6" from which came a long cist. A couple of decades later some kind of grave was found in one of the others. Their semi-circular remains at HY48400259 & HY48390257, about 8m across and roughly a metre high, are completely turf-covered.
Take the A961 for the South Isles past the Hunclett side road until the sign for Toab when you take B road. Where the road starts downhill the 1:25,000 has a MS symbol on the right and the Hall of Gorn is the unnamed group of buildings before that on the crest of the hill. The most direct route is the field boundary along its RH side. Though you can choose to clamber over the gate to the field you cannot with the field above the last building as the lower bars are only footholds from the outside. The mound, with what is left of its reduced siblings, is in this walled field. It seems to me that the main mound is little dissimilar to Laughton's Knowe in the open field, having a similar outline - a curved shield with a broad low ombos almost like a platform - though less well defined (it may only be apparent in some directions). There is now no sign of blackened earth, so apart from there being bigger chunks of bare soil on Laughton's Knowe the composition looks broadly similar in being mostly turf-covered with earthfast boulders at various places in no obvious pattern. As with the knowe you naturally expect to gauge the depth of stones protruding through the turf by a slight pull, but when I tried this several of these, even the boulders, didn't budge at all. Is these being earthfast evidence for structures within (or having been there once leastways). When I visited I had forgotten about other mounds but did notice what I then took to be curvilinear banks between the main mound and the farmstead. Nearer the farm buildings still is a modern water-point on the slope of the hill - the 1882 map shows no well here but that is not 100% accurate always. It is above a large slab covering something, presumably a well but my leg pain stopped me lifting it up far enough to check. There are other stones and smaller slabs about this one, and I do wonder if they came from the grave site.
LAUGHTON'S KNOWE
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40SE 1 at HY48260258 is an earth and stone mound ~15m diameter by 3m, turf covered except where scarred at the north and east. From it came a (possibly secondary) LBA cremation cist with a bronze and hazel razor.
Take the A961 for the South Isles past the Hunclett side road until the sign for Toab when you take B road. If you know where to look the mound is visible on the horizon even before the junction is reached, and indeed is visible over a large portion of Holm (except, oddly enough, for a short stretch of the B road coming up to the farmtrack junction). Where the road starts downhill the 1:25,000 has a MS symbol on the right and the Hall of Gorn is the unnamed group of buildings before that on the crest of the hill. The most direct route to the knowe is the field boundary along its RH side. Once past the last building the mound is a little to one side and forward of the walled field containing the Gorm mound with its much reduced siblings. The outline - a curved shield with a broad low ombos almost like a platform - appears to be shared by the main Gorn mound, though it may only be apparent in some directions. Apart from the large chunks of bare soil mentioned in the record the composition looks broadly similar in being mostly turf-covered with earthfast boulders at various places in no obvious pattern. "Earth and stone" conjures up an image of the two intermixed, the stones small, but what you see revealed is earth with scattered middling stones. Seeing some loose stone and none too thick slabs you naturally expect to gauge the depth of those protruding from the mound or through the turf by a slight pull, but when I tried this several of these, even the boulders, didn't budge at all. Is these being earthfast evidence for structures additional to the abstracted cist within (or having been there once leastways) ?
Laughton's Knowe is only the second visit I have made to a site apparently named after someone modern (the other being the Howe Harper cairn, unless perhaps from Harproo 'heap by the stream'). However I find nothing Laughton referred to. So with the Hall of Gorn nearby and Skaill closer yet, I would tentatively suggest the site was originally called a law-thing rather than a personal name.
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40SE 2 consists of three barrows. The main one, at HY48370261, is a black earth and clay mound about 40x50' by 5'6" from which came a long cist. A couple of decades later some kind of grave was found in one of the others. Their semi-circular remains at HY48400259 & HY48390257, about 8m across and roughly a metre high, are completely turf-covered.
Take the A961 for the South Isles past the Hunclett side road until the sign for Toab when you take B road. Where the road starts downhill the 1:25,000 has a MS symbol on the right and the Hall of Gorn is the unnamed group of buildings before that on the crest of the hill. The most direct route is the field boundary along its RH side. Though you can choose to clamber over the gate to the field you cannot with the field above the last building as the lower bars are only footholds from the outside. The mound, with what is left of its reduced siblings, is in this walled field. It seems to me that the main mound is little dissimilar to Laughton's Knowe in the open field, having a similar outline - a curved shield with a broad low ombos almost like a platform - though less well defined (it may only be apparent in some directions). There is now no sign of blackened earth, so apart from there being bigger chunks of bare soil on Laughton's Knowe the composition looks broadly similar in being mostly turf-covered with earthfast boulders at various places in no obvious pattern. As with the knowe you naturally expect to gauge the depth of stones protruding through the turf by a slight pull, but when I tried this several of these, even the boulders, didn't budge at all. Is these being earthfast evidence for structures within (or having been there once leastways). When I visited I had forgotten about other mounds but did notice what I then took to be curvilinear banks between the main mound and the farmstead. Nearer the farm buildings still is a modern water-point on the slope of the hill - the 1882 map shows no well here but that is not 100% accurate always. It is above a large slab covering something, presumably a well but my leg pain stopped me lifting it up far enough to check. There are other stones and smaller slabs about this one, and I do wonder if they came from the grave site.
LAUGHTON'S KNOWE
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40SE 1 at HY48260258 is an earth and stone mound ~15m diameter by 3m, turf covered except where scarred at the north and east. From it came a (possibly secondary) LBA cremation cist with a bronze and hazel razor.
Take the A961 for the South Isles past the Hunclett side road until the sign for Toab when you take B road. If you know where to look the mound is visible on the horizon even before the junction is reached, and indeed is visible over a large portion of Holm (except, oddly enough, for a short stretch of the B road coming up to the farmtrack junction). Where the road starts downhill the 1:25,000 has a MS symbol on the right and the Hall of Gorn is the unnamed group of buildings before that on the crest of the hill. The most direct route to the knowe is the field boundary along its RH side. Once past the last building the mound is a little to one side and forward of the walled field containing the Gorm mound with its much reduced siblings. The outline - a curved shield with a broad low ombos almost like a platform - appears to be shared by the main Gorn mound, though it may only be apparent in some directions. Apart from the large chunks of bare soil mentioned in the record the composition looks broadly similar in being mostly turf-covered with earthfast boulders at various places in no obvious pattern. "Earth and stone" conjures up an image of the two intermixed, the stones small, but what you see revealed is earth with scattered middling stones. Seeing some loose stone and none too thick slabs you naturally expect to gauge the depth of those protruding from the mound or through the turf by a slight pull, but when I tried this several of these, even the boulders, didn't budge at all. Is these being earthfast evidence for structures additional to the abstracted cist within (or having been there once leastways) ?
Laughton's Knowe is only the second visit I have made to a site apparently named after someone modern (the other being the Howe Harper cairn, unless perhaps from Harproo 'heap by the stream'). However I find nothing Laughton referred to. So with the Hall of Gorn nearby and Skaill closer yet, I would tentatively suggest the site was originally called a law-thing rather than a personal name.
