Tuesday, September 21, 2010
HARRAY ROAD 2, WHILCO HEADED SOUTH September 3rd 2010
Took off for the first bus to Dounby from Kirkwall. This goes via Evie and the Tingwall ferry. During the moments the bus stayed at Tingwall the sun shone down on Rousay's Ward Hill area to pick out the lines of cultivation like some mountainsiide paddy field. Rather than try guessing where on the outskirts I needed to be waited for the bus to stop at the crossroads and made my way back out again. On the N side of the road came across a stone I would love to have been the Whilco stone, only it is way too neat, has been engraved and is the wrong side. Tried finding it in both directions with no luck. The Whilco stone was at HY29622085, where the underdyke met the foredyke [both still visible] on the S side of the Hillside Road where that bends slightly about where a track now runs roughly ESE from its S side. Strangely "Harray, Orkney's Inland Parish" shows the stone after the 1871 cist findspot, E rather than SSW of Esgar, instead of before it as shown in the 1st 25" O.S. Which is HY298211 just past the modern Quilco development.
Onto the Harray road again and in a field adjoining the W side in Sandwick parish the map has the legend Fan Knowe (aka Hyval Cottage, RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21NE 31 at HY29991975), thought to be a burnt mound, despite lack of the right stuff, because it bears similarities to one near Ballarat House (fan 'wreath of snow'). This N/S aligned mound is some 23m by 16m and about 1.8m in height. Despite which I could not make it out from the road - perhaps 'hidden' against the water feature. At six foot high it should be no bother when I have the time and the grass is hopefully lower.
Coming to the Merkister junction it is nice to finally have a name for the mound there that 'seperates' the Knowes o' Congar from the Park Knowes. It would be nice to think that Laxhowe is named for one of the nearby lochans. Or were they once one. Indeed there is a suspicious pool on the other side of the road from these, and I wonder if there was perhaps a much larger loch of which all three bodies of water were part. If so, anything to do with the system of drains into the Burn of Layane to the SSE ? Fewer of the Conger knowes have heather on them than I remembered. If thre had been a lochan of greater extent what was its relation to these, did they stand proud in the water.
Thie Burn of Layane strikes me as a millstream with its stone-lined walls. And on this occasion I spot a square niche on the inner face just like there is at the Mill of Ireland. Still don't know what it is for, cooling butter mayhap. Looking eastward there is what from the road has the appearance of a circular mound quartered by a drystane wall and a line of brown dock. As far as I can tell from my abysmal map-reading this is likely to be the Knowe Field of Howen Brough just S of the burn (Corston, Howen Brough aka Knowe of Haewin - HY31NW 32 at HY31801914) - not to be confused with Howand Brae. The level summit appears to be the primary site, thought by some an early church but pear-shaped - in 1946 14.5m along the E/W axis and varying in width along this from 3.5-10m). The amorphous base of this possible broch has been mucked about and both E and W ends heavily quarried - steep banks at the S and E may reflect secondary use (1946 0.75 and 1.6m respectively). A definite broch, Burrian (Corrigal), is no great distance away (just N of same burn) and the sloping nature of this mound is ringing bells as matching a different kind of site altogether [like Head of Work ??]. A field at Nether Corston is called Bigoo 'Big Howe' like the Stenness broch.
Another example of my poor sense of perspective when I confuse the much undulating land on the other side of the road for the land below the St.Michael's Kirk hill. These come to no great height or depth and are, I guess, the twisting banks of some long-gone burn. Nice to have such a feature that has never gained a name as beginning to think everyplace had one, which would make the use of terms such as knowe or howe of more limited use as indicators of potential archaeological archaeology. The next roadside dwelling is a house called Uvigar, which woud appear to be from ?uivigar 'clumsy object' (though possibly simply named after a place in Evie rather than referring to difficulties here), and a new build as the Harray parish book only has The Knowe field here. Said mound is at HY30951888 by the house's north side. It may have extended to the W side of the road where thare are middling stones roadside. However there are further stones north of this bit so they could always be road substrate I guess. Like Laxhowe it lies at right-angles to the Harray road and has been snubbed, as it were, by this From the side it rises gently from the E and then becomes yer usual mound with a slightly scooped top (that when I walked upon it felt excavated) before dropping down fairly sharply down at the near end (more gradually at the sides), presenting a snail profile that way on [now]. Unlike Laxhowe the cut roadside end is the conic section you'd expect, excepting a vertical linear exposure. With the vegetation acting as a focus it is difficult to photograph the whole exposure. In one image I have parts of small ?slabs and disintegrating rock, which initially made me think of bedrock - this then being the 'hindrance'. But in a wider shot it could be archaeology, and there apear to be a few wall blocks, for my lacking a more precise term. A survey of unidentified Mesolithic flints by Caroline Wickham-Jones includes Uvigar (HY31NW 61 ~HY310188 - position unknown apart from name). This would fall into a growing pattern in Scotland of B.A. barrows turning up such bygones (e.g. Long Howe in Tankerness, possibly even another of her sites, Congesquoy) that is still awaiting someone's full attention - the working archaeologist that mentioned this is working too hard in their own field, like many an other, but it would surely make a good subject for an UHI thesis. A question arising is why not in the Neolithic too ? Could always be the later Meso flints are difficult to seperate from the earliest Neolithic ones - or no-one has thought to looked. Might be the elf-dart legend has Bronze Age antecedents.
The sun is still shining brilliantly as I come towards the farmtrack from Upper Appietown (aka Oddies) and is picking out features in the field below this. Almost the entire lot could be a broch that has been reduced to its foundations, and perhaps beyond. This is most definitely North of Harray Church (antiquarians always mean latitude unless they specifically state a compass direction [as in "due North"] ) and the foot of the hill. This day the slight rise from the broch tower is wonderfully highlighted. Between it and the remains noted previously a broad dry ditch curves round and westward the land rises high in an arc like the bank/hillock behind the Broch of Lingro site. Alas my brain went on the fritz and I only took photos of the track stuff - the next time I had a dull surprise and the contrast almost gone. The only problem with my slight rise is that it isn't completely circular, because at one place it merges into the slope behind. At least I finally used my SLR and camcorder on the Harray Churchyard mound while the sun shone, even if for the most part it is thoroughly peppered by graves.
Passing the pottery I thought about popping in to see Andrew Appleby again. However I thought it to soon and I am no great shakes as a conversationalist. So after a few more pics of the Harray School mounds [+1?] trudged down to the Harray junction to await the bus.
Took off for the first bus to Dounby from Kirkwall. This goes via Evie and the Tingwall ferry. During the moments the bus stayed at Tingwall the sun shone down on Rousay's Ward Hill area to pick out the lines of cultivation like some mountainsiide paddy field. Rather than try guessing where on the outskirts I needed to be waited for the bus to stop at the crossroads and made my way back out again. On the N side of the road came across a stone I would love to have been the Whilco stone, only it is way too neat, has been engraved and is the wrong side. Tried finding it in both directions with no luck. The Whilco stone was at HY29622085, where the underdyke met the foredyke [both still visible] on the S side of the Hillside Road where that bends slightly about where a track now runs roughly ESE from its S side. Strangely "Harray, Orkney's Inland Parish" shows the stone after the 1871 cist findspot, E rather than SSW of Esgar, instead of before it as shown in the 1st 25" O.S. Which is HY298211 just past the modern Quilco development.
Onto the Harray road again and in a field adjoining the W side in Sandwick parish the map has the legend Fan Knowe (aka Hyval Cottage, RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21NE 31 at HY29991975), thought to be a burnt mound, despite lack of the right stuff, because it bears similarities to one near Ballarat House (fan 'wreath of snow'). This N/S aligned mound is some 23m by 16m and about 1.8m in height. Despite which I could not make it out from the road - perhaps 'hidden' against the water feature. At six foot high it should be no bother when I have the time and the grass is hopefully lower.
Coming to the Merkister junction it is nice to finally have a name for the mound there that 'seperates' the Knowes o' Congar from the Park Knowes. It would be nice to think that Laxhowe is named for one of the nearby lochans. Or were they once one. Indeed there is a suspicious pool on the other side of the road from these, and I wonder if there was perhaps a much larger loch of which all three bodies of water were part. If so, anything to do with the system of drains into the Burn of Layane to the SSE ? Fewer of the Conger knowes have heather on them than I remembered. If thre had been a lochan of greater extent what was its relation to these, did they stand proud in the water.
Thie Burn of Layane strikes me as a millstream with its stone-lined walls. And on this occasion I spot a square niche on the inner face just like there is at the Mill of Ireland. Still don't know what it is for, cooling butter mayhap. Looking eastward there is what from the road has the appearance of a circular mound quartered by a drystane wall and a line of brown dock. As far as I can tell from my abysmal map-reading this is likely to be the Knowe Field of Howen Brough just S of the burn (Corston, Howen Brough aka Knowe of Haewin - HY31NW 32 at HY31801914) - not to be confused with Howand Brae. The level summit appears to be the primary site, thought by some an early church but pear-shaped - in 1946 14.5m along the E/W axis and varying in width along this from 3.5-10m). The amorphous base of this possible broch has been mucked about and both E and W ends heavily quarried - steep banks at the S and E may reflect secondary use (1946 0.75 and 1.6m respectively). A definite broch, Burrian (Corrigal), is no great distance away (just N of same burn) and the sloping nature of this mound is ringing bells as matching a different kind of site altogether [like Head of Work ??]. A field at Nether Corston is called Bigoo 'Big Howe' like the Stenness broch.
Another example of my poor sense of perspective when I confuse the much undulating land on the other side of the road for the land below the St.Michael's Kirk hill. These come to no great height or depth and are, I guess, the twisting banks of some long-gone burn. Nice to have such a feature that has never gained a name as beginning to think everyplace had one, which would make the use of terms such as knowe or howe of more limited use as indicators of potential archaeological archaeology. The next roadside dwelling is a house called Uvigar, which woud appear to be from ?uivigar 'clumsy object' (though possibly simply named after a place in Evie rather than referring to difficulties here), and a new build as the Harray parish book only has The Knowe field here. Said mound is at HY30951888 by the house's north side. It may have extended to the W side of the road where thare are middling stones roadside. However there are further stones north of this bit so they could always be road substrate I guess. Like Laxhowe it lies at right-angles to the Harray road and has been snubbed, as it were, by this From the side it rises gently from the E and then becomes yer usual mound with a slightly scooped top (that when I walked upon it felt excavated) before dropping down fairly sharply down at the near end (more gradually at the sides), presenting a snail profile that way on [now]. Unlike Laxhowe the cut roadside end is the conic section you'd expect, excepting a vertical linear exposure. With the vegetation acting as a focus it is difficult to photograph the whole exposure. In one image I have parts of small ?slabs and disintegrating rock, which initially made me think of bedrock - this then being the 'hindrance'. But in a wider shot it could be archaeology, and there apear to be a few wall blocks, for my lacking a more precise term. A survey of unidentified Mesolithic flints by Caroline Wickham-Jones includes Uvigar (HY31NW 61 ~HY310188 - position unknown apart from name). This would fall into a growing pattern in Scotland of B.A. barrows turning up such bygones (e.g. Long Howe in Tankerness, possibly even another of her sites, Congesquoy) that is still awaiting someone's full attention - the working archaeologist that mentioned this is working too hard in their own field, like many an other, but it would surely make a good subject for an UHI thesis. A question arising is why not in the Neolithic too ? Could always be the later Meso flints are difficult to seperate from the earliest Neolithic ones - or no-one has thought to looked. Might be the elf-dart legend has Bronze Age antecedents.
The sun is still shining brilliantly as I come towards the farmtrack from Upper Appietown (aka Oddies) and is picking out features in the field below this. Almost the entire lot could be a broch that has been reduced to its foundations, and perhaps beyond. This is most definitely North of Harray Church (antiquarians always mean latitude unless they specifically state a compass direction [as in "due North"] ) and the foot of the hill. This day the slight rise from the broch tower is wonderfully highlighted. Between it and the remains noted previously a broad dry ditch curves round and westward the land rises high in an arc like the bank/hillock behind the Broch of Lingro site. Alas my brain went on the fritz and I only took photos of the track stuff - the next time I had a dull surprise and the contrast almost gone. The only problem with my slight rise is that it isn't completely circular, because at one place it merges into the slope behind. At least I finally used my SLR and camcorder on the Harray Churchyard mound while the sun shone, even if for the most part it is thoroughly peppered by graves.
Passing the pottery I thought about popping in to see Andrew Appleby again. However I thought it to soon and I am no great shakes as a conversationalist. So after a few more pics of the Harray School mounds [+1?] trudged down to the Harray junction to await the bus.
Labels: Burn of Layane, Fan Knowe, Howen Brough, Knowe of Haewin, N of Harray Church, Uvigar, Whilco Stone
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
HARRAY ROAD 1, WASDALE TO MERKISTER August 27th 2010
Took the bus as far as the Harray junction. Going up the east side of the road between the first two houses,Craigielea and How(ie)glen, decided to try for a shot of the Loch of Wasdale crannog/dun/IA west side. From the road managed as far as a moundlet (that seemed to have held a fencepost) carefully then it became a little too boggy and treachorous for my dodgy foot. The moundlet made a fine vantage point anyways, about four feet across and perhaps two-and-a-bit high. Climbing down I saw right next to it a small deep square water-filled pit surrounded by the remains of barbwire - lucky I hadn't fallen into it. I am fairly sure it is not an old well as there are only quarries shown between the junction and The Refuge on the first and subsequent O.S.
My secondary excuse for coming this way is that the archaeologist-turned potter Andrew Appleby had found a teeny portable idol and e-mails exchanged with him had brought knowledge of another discovery by him, of a larger idol, and I fancied a look at both. My primary reason was that the Harray Potter had several times said I should come by sometime and this was long overdue on my part. So I combined 'work' and pleasure. Though named after Fursbreck the pottery is now in an old school beside the road. Before entering I looked across the road as In the field opposite the Fursbeck Pottery are the two Harray School mounds (RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY31NW 37). These were first recorded as a much lowered smeared out mound [in a rectangular ?enclosure in 1882], 200 yards E of what is now the pottery at HY32141711, and the possible site of another noted in the same field in 1946 (and depicted on a marsh field edge on the 1st O.S.). Now the first shows only as natural, a large hillock at the back of the field, and the second is tentatively identified with some kind of swell 40m nor'nor'east of this at HY32151715 . From where I stood I thought I saw the slight rise of the latter framed against ?Melrose (still Millrose in 1882), but I am rubbish at perspective. A more intriguing piece of land lies at the back of this in the crook of a modern drain offshoot at HY32161723 where after passing the Melrose track you look E and in the next field see what to my eyes is a mound sliced through by the drain. And on a large-scale map it is obviously a feature modern man has made a way for, though perhaps rather relating to the old quarry ahint it on the first maps.
Coming up to Rosebank it is a standout place, same name as the feature where Highland Park House stands now but a whacking great bank here on which the farm sits what I'd guess to be 2-3m up. And behind Rosebank there are several similar banks in a chain going towards Firth. Trouble with Orkney is that it is difficult to tell the archaeology from the natural even when these are seperate. Same thing with Appiehouse where N of the mound on which the stones stand are several arcs that could either be banks and ditches or the banks of a lost burn, though I am certain one matches the ditch on the S side.
Despite his wife Ingrid being at work outside she directed me to Andrew. When I mentioned the possible earthworks at Rosebank he let my tires down gently by relating them to glacial moraines. Sigh. The first item I photographed was the larger figure, which he kindly wetted for me. He informed me that he found it when only 15, at the Springfield quarry, on either his first or second visit to Orkney. To picture what I call the Springfield Quarryman take away a gingerbread man's arms and join his legs into one big one and you basically have it - a roundish head and a decent size neck above a sub-rectangular body. There is a slight curve to him as if leaning slightly. You can make out the left eye for certain and the other less so, but on the digital negatives both eyes are distinct, as is a flat rectangular nose betwen them with just the suggestion of a mouth in the space between that and the neck. The dimensions are 38cm high by 5cm thick, from base 26cm to neck which is 8cm wide, eyes 2.5cm wide. There is the slightest of bulges near the base close to one side. Seen from the side this area has the most obvious tool marks - perhaps from pounding with a stone - and the neck appears worked smooth. Several idols of not dissimilar size have been found in this Grimeston district and Netherbrough next-door, but these are not full-bodied but more head and upper body alone. Added to which they are more abstract, using comparatively sharp geometric shapes, a closer match to Broch Age figures from Orkney, whereas this makes me think of items brought up from Danish or Irish bogs.
After a break from me to finish the pottery batch I had so rudely interrupted, Andrew showed me the pleasantly decorated mini casket in which the wrapped idol lay along with the shell of a pet tortoise. Fortunately this box was still out from his interview with Radio Orkney. This was part of an old collection of his stored in a bigger box [otherwise unexplored awaiting review someday when he has enough free time]. He found the small idol in 1976 whilst looking at land dug up by kie in an area called The Whins near the layby HY32171567 (this findspot later turned out to be close to an outlier of the saucer barrow subsequently called The Henge). Andrew calls it the Grimeston Girlie [shortened by some to Grimeston Girl], the Whins Wifie or the Venus of The Whins. Her dimensions are 45mm high with body 32mm wide measuring 30mm to the neck, which varies 21-27mm wide - the body has pecked circles 14mm diameter. Unlike the Westray Wifie and her near double (whose wedge-shaped bodies put them more in the line of the Broch Age idols) she is a fully three-dimensional figure, resembling globs of clay stuck together, and the two pecked circles are like dimples where a potter pinches the clay - buttocks ? One of the facets has an occlusion. It can only be balanced upright with difficulty so I wonder if it has been used like a puppet with the dimples allowing it to be presented to the audience/participants front first and unobscured.
On leaving the pottery my next target I had been putting off for years. Whilst deep digging in St.Michael's kirkyard, in order to prepare the ground for a Great War memorial, workmen found the foundations of a possible broch. Overbrough (aka Harray Churchyard), HY31NW 36 at HY31361790, put thusly sounded positively underwhelming but would be very easy to get to. Soon after reaching the old manse, now called Holland House, you turn to your right uphill and then left at the top of the brae. The mound is a lot bigger than expected at 33m by 30 m and one-and-a-half high. Indeed it seems to me to have been squared off by the old kirkyard except on the w side where it flows out under the walls a metre or so, and the gravedigger in 1966 found flints, pottery fragments and animal bones around the edge of the mound. Though these finds remind me of Holm parish church the elevation is greater and the ground far from firm. Coupling this with the information that the then gravedigger, J.Firth, despite finding the mound stony had never found actual wall faces I come to the conclusion that this is a chambered mound. You can't imagine subsidence occuring on a site with those massive broch walls but here it's all over the place, with one gravestone leaning precariously back over a gaping hole. And those graves are mostly something else. Definitely not your usual. Dozens of long flagstones covering individual graves and/or acting as steps, some supported on a few thin courses of drystone walling. On my next visit I noticed close to one another inside the kirkyard's WSW the vertical tops of two otherwise buried flags of an apparently similar order of size to these grave-covers. Near the NNE is a place where two graves have been cut into the mound and at the cut side are several stones projecting vertically that could be of the chambered mound. Outside the walls the edge of the mound looks intact, as mentioned, and you can see the tops of several rough stones that appear to be the mound base. And in front of a change of height in the wall (a different construction phase) two stones stand up, one like a Toblerone piece (roughly 0.5 by 0.3m) and the other more round less regular (say 0.3 by 0.1~0.15), with a much smaller stone behind the space between them. I am sorely tempted to associate St.Michael's Kirk with the Fairyhowe where the Man's Body rested, but this is no heap of small stones ! Possibly instead Cup Howes (HY314176, suggested as a quarry for the kirkyard mound) next east from Runar.
Now gone is the (N of) Harray Church broch, HY31NW 49 down as at HY314179, the hillside (Brae o' Dunsoo ?) nearly opposite the other kirk, the Anderson Kirk. Only three problems with the NMRS site candidate - it is due E of the kirk (not further N in latitude), isn't a rise (at most brow of hill or false crest ), and desn't sit at the bottom of a hill (hill itself goes down to road at two junctions). Coming back from St.Michael's Kirk turned left and at the near junction took the other leg of this road, the northern one. This goes through a remnant of a ?mound centred HY31451799, starting about 35m from Harray road with a linear spread of about 20m of biggish stones hard by the northern roadside - definitely not a tumbled down drystane wall. Looking back from the main road you can see the grassy rise that the southern side of the road cuts through in profile. My reading of the map in "Harray - Orkney's Inland Parish" is that the field in which the stones are is that named Lingawheen [long? enclosure]. This contained Killopeter, a well traditionally named after a man who drowned in it, though I might suggest a reading 'rock well' as this is my choice for the true broch site. Still, that is for the blog of a later day.
When I worked decorating Nisthouse for NoSAS the mounds I saw left of the track always struck me as likely to be archaeology even though they did not appear as such, not even a name. Then from the Harray parish book finally I knew them to be the Knowes o' Congar/Conger [?conningair 'warren'] or St.Magnus Resting Place, stretching up to the junction where you would turn off for the Merkister Hotel. At a knoll here about St.John's Eve a year's-worth of grain from a field of one acre was given to the church by Mychal, a man in honour of whom St.Michael's Kirk may have been named. These mounds are not to be confused with the two called the Knowes of Conyar/Coynear (according to HY31NW 44 leastways) that used to be N of Conyar, as those were in Sandwick parish - one 32'D the other 20'D [indistinct even in 1929 so not necessarily vanished altogether]. The mound nearest the Nisthouse junction I later realised has now the seperate name Knowe of Browsky but that will be named after the unknown excavator. These are all long mounds gathered about the lochans Shunan and Parro Shun (pronounced Chinyan, meaning 'the loch', and Peedachin/Padachin i.e. peerie/peedie 'small' chinyan) on heathland. Several are painted purple by the heather, though the tallest one (possibly excavated) only at one end. I'm not sure if this latter is one mound or two as it seems to have a 'saddle' behind the heathery portion. Beside the mound's northern side are a pair of large erect stone 'gateposts' - a shame as I had hoped to find a single Mansie's Stone for St.Magnus. However my reading of the Harray book is that the purely Congar knowes were only between Parro Shun and the road, with this mound in a field called Daman (?'twin hills' if Celtic).
North of the junction for Merkister and still east of the Harray Road are more long mounds, the grass-covered Park Knowes, and apart from the nearest one to the road none looking excavated from where I stood roadside. There's one of the Park Knowes behind the next dwelling along from this and the rest west and south-west of that IIRC (centred HY303196) to Brown Brae. Something in me sees the mound by Laxhowe [lake mound] at the head of the T (HY30361943) as one of the Park Knowes though it would make a good candidate for the knoll where the Man's Body rested. And it has definitely been dug. At first glance this seems to have been purely in road-making. Then on second viewing on the dug side is a circular appearance that would result from antiquarian investigation. Indeed a closer look brings the possibilty of this being part of a petite hornwork, helped by the few exposed stones being high up at its back, threee standing against the present face of the mound. One small stone lower down of brick proportions could be a rectangular block. On my later visit zooming in on the knowe behind this one revealed another pair of large erect stone 'gateposts' like those mentioned earlier, so might there have been a broad track passing through the two sets of knowes at some time.
Now I crossed the junction. Between where Russland Cottage and Lynfield are now is where the 'Knowes of Coynear' are, or were. The road continues on to the lochside Merkister Hotel before turning - the hotel and anciliary buildings are post 1882, an old 'new build' on a greenfield site. Turning away from the Merkister past the two dwellings on the N side of the road is the field of the Fairy Howes (HY299190), but it's difficult to make much out when you're looking on the wrong side !. The next turn is around the modernised Mill Cottage (for sale to some lucky sod. From here almost due south a teardrop of land sticks out into the Loch of Harray. This site is Burrian (Russland), HY21NW 29 at HY29611834, much favoured by early antiquarians. Despite being much dug into it has been identified as either either a solid-based broch or a wheelhouse (though it strikes me that wheelhouse is now replacing broch as a stock answer). From here on I grew less and less certain of my location, difficult even on much straighter roads owing to most places having no nameplates. The most confusing bit I eventually found out is called Man(n)aneeban. Here the land looms over the road and drops down to the Burn of Netherbrough. On the downhill side of the road here a big stone wall loops around and (I think) hides the waterfall called The Forces that I found out about afterwards. Above the road feels like my idea of a creek. Or a huge excavation. Further on looking back along this at an edge of the land above there is a tall stone 'gatepost' with a very short piece of drystane wall a few feet away very out of place. Perhaps these relate to the nearby well (or wellspring) at HY31071731. A little further on I pursue a sidetrack heading north to Runas as far as the burn. More shots of tree shrouded settlement. Returning there are large stones made into a low wall along the steep rise on the E side of the track- most likely from the footbridge shown on the 1st 25" (stepping stones in the Harray book) if the present bridge isn't it.
Not long from there to the Harray road. Further to the Harray junction to await the bus back home.
Took the bus as far as the Harray junction. Going up the east side of the road between the first two houses,Craigielea and How(ie)glen, decided to try for a shot of the Loch of Wasdale crannog/dun/IA west side. From the road managed as far as a moundlet (that seemed to have held a fencepost) carefully then it became a little too boggy and treachorous for my dodgy foot. The moundlet made a fine vantage point anyways, about four feet across and perhaps two-and-a-bit high. Climbing down I saw right next to it a small deep square water-filled pit surrounded by the remains of barbwire - lucky I hadn't fallen into it. I am fairly sure it is not an old well as there are only quarries shown between the junction and The Refuge on the first and subsequent O.S.
My secondary excuse for coming this way is that the archaeologist-turned potter Andrew Appleby had found a teeny portable idol and e-mails exchanged with him had brought knowledge of another discovery by him, of a larger idol, and I fancied a look at both. My primary reason was that the Harray Potter had several times said I should come by sometime and this was long overdue on my part. So I combined 'work' and pleasure. Though named after Fursbreck the pottery is now in an old school beside the road. Before entering I looked across the road as In the field opposite the Fursbeck Pottery are the two Harray School mounds (RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY31NW 37). These were first recorded as a much lowered smeared out mound [in a rectangular ?enclosure in 1882], 200 yards E of what is now the pottery at HY32141711, and the possible site of another noted in the same field in 1946 (and depicted on a marsh field edge on the 1st O.S.). Now the first shows only as natural, a large hillock at the back of the field, and the second is tentatively identified with some kind of swell 40m nor'nor'east of this at HY32151715 . From where I stood I thought I saw the slight rise of the latter framed against ?Melrose (still Millrose in 1882), but I am rubbish at perspective. A more intriguing piece of land lies at the back of this in the crook of a modern drain offshoot at HY32161723 where after passing the Melrose track you look E and in the next field see what to my eyes is a mound sliced through by the drain. And on a large-scale map it is obviously a feature modern man has made a way for, though perhaps rather relating to the old quarry ahint it on the first maps.
Coming up to Rosebank it is a standout place, same name as the feature where Highland Park House stands now but a whacking great bank here on which the farm sits what I'd guess to be 2-3m up. And behind Rosebank there are several similar banks in a chain going towards Firth. Trouble with Orkney is that it is difficult to tell the archaeology from the natural even when these are seperate. Same thing with Appiehouse where N of the mound on which the stones stand are several arcs that could either be banks and ditches or the banks of a lost burn, though I am certain one matches the ditch on the S side.
Despite his wife Ingrid being at work outside she directed me to Andrew. When I mentioned the possible earthworks at Rosebank he let my tires down gently by relating them to glacial moraines. Sigh. The first item I photographed was the larger figure, which he kindly wetted for me. He informed me that he found it when only 15, at the Springfield quarry, on either his first or second visit to Orkney. To picture what I call the Springfield Quarryman take away a gingerbread man's arms and join his legs into one big one and you basically have it - a roundish head and a decent size neck above a sub-rectangular body. There is a slight curve to him as if leaning slightly. You can make out the left eye for certain and the other less so, but on the digital negatives both eyes are distinct, as is a flat rectangular nose betwen them with just the suggestion of a mouth in the space between that and the neck. The dimensions are 38cm high by 5cm thick, from base 26cm to neck which is 8cm wide, eyes 2.5cm wide. There is the slightest of bulges near the base close to one side. Seen from the side this area has the most obvious tool marks - perhaps from pounding with a stone - and the neck appears worked smooth. Several idols of not dissimilar size have been found in this Grimeston district and Netherbrough next-door, but these are not full-bodied but more head and upper body alone. Added to which they are more abstract, using comparatively sharp geometric shapes, a closer match to Broch Age figures from Orkney, whereas this makes me think of items brought up from Danish or Irish bogs.
After a break from me to finish the pottery batch I had so rudely interrupted, Andrew showed me the pleasantly decorated mini casket in which the wrapped idol lay along with the shell of a pet tortoise. Fortunately this box was still out from his interview with Radio Orkney. This was part of an old collection of his stored in a bigger box [otherwise unexplored awaiting review someday when he has enough free time]. He found the small idol in 1976 whilst looking at land dug up by kie in an area called The Whins near the layby HY32171567 (this findspot later turned out to be close to an outlier of the saucer barrow subsequently called The Henge). Andrew calls it the Grimeston Girlie [shortened by some to Grimeston Girl], the Whins Wifie or the Venus of The Whins. Her dimensions are 45mm high with body 32mm wide measuring 30mm to the neck, which varies 21-27mm wide - the body has pecked circles 14mm diameter. Unlike the Westray Wifie and her near double (whose wedge-shaped bodies put them more in the line of the Broch Age idols) she is a fully three-dimensional figure, resembling globs of clay stuck together, and the two pecked circles are like dimples where a potter pinches the clay - buttocks ? One of the facets has an occlusion. It can only be balanced upright with difficulty so I wonder if it has been used like a puppet with the dimples allowing it to be presented to the audience/participants front first and unobscured.
On leaving the pottery my next target I had been putting off for years. Whilst deep digging in St.Michael's kirkyard, in order to prepare the ground for a Great War memorial, workmen found the foundations of a possible broch. Overbrough (aka Harray Churchyard), HY31NW 36 at HY31361790, put thusly sounded positively underwhelming but would be very easy to get to. Soon after reaching the old manse, now called Holland House, you turn to your right uphill and then left at the top of the brae. The mound is a lot bigger than expected at 33m by 30 m and one-and-a-half high. Indeed it seems to me to have been squared off by the old kirkyard except on the w side where it flows out under the walls a metre or so, and the gravedigger in 1966 found flints, pottery fragments and animal bones around the edge of the mound. Though these finds remind me of Holm parish church the elevation is greater and the ground far from firm. Coupling this with the information that the then gravedigger, J.Firth, despite finding the mound stony had never found actual wall faces I come to the conclusion that this is a chambered mound. You can't imagine subsidence occuring on a site with those massive broch walls but here it's all over the place, with one gravestone leaning precariously back over a gaping hole. And those graves are mostly something else. Definitely not your usual. Dozens of long flagstones covering individual graves and/or acting as steps, some supported on a few thin courses of drystone walling. On my next visit I noticed close to one another inside the kirkyard's WSW the vertical tops of two otherwise buried flags of an apparently similar order of size to these grave-covers. Near the NNE is a place where two graves have been cut into the mound and at the cut side are several stones projecting vertically that could be of the chambered mound. Outside the walls the edge of the mound looks intact, as mentioned, and you can see the tops of several rough stones that appear to be the mound base. And in front of a change of height in the wall (a different construction phase) two stones stand up, one like a Toblerone piece (roughly 0.5 by 0.3m) and the other more round less regular (say 0.3 by 0.1~0.15), with a much smaller stone behind the space between them. I am sorely tempted to associate St.Michael's Kirk with the Fairyhowe where the Man's Body rested, but this is no heap of small stones ! Possibly instead Cup Howes (HY314176, suggested as a quarry for the kirkyard mound) next east from Runar.
Now gone is the (N of) Harray Church broch, HY31NW 49 down as at HY314179, the hillside (Brae o' Dunsoo ?) nearly opposite the other kirk, the Anderson Kirk. Only three problems with the NMRS site candidate - it is due E of the kirk (not further N in latitude), isn't a rise (at most brow of hill or false crest ), and desn't sit at the bottom of a hill (hill itself goes down to road at two junctions). Coming back from St.Michael's Kirk turned left and at the near junction took the other leg of this road, the northern one. This goes through a remnant of a ?mound centred HY31451799, starting about 35m from Harray road with a linear spread of about 20m of biggish stones hard by the northern roadside - definitely not a tumbled down drystane wall. Looking back from the main road you can see the grassy rise that the southern side of the road cuts through in profile. My reading of the map in "Harray - Orkney's Inland Parish" is that the field in which the stones are is that named Lingawheen [long? enclosure]. This contained Killopeter, a well traditionally named after a man who drowned in it, though I might suggest a reading 'rock well' as this is my choice for the true broch site. Still, that is for the blog of a later day.
When I worked decorating Nisthouse for NoSAS the mounds I saw left of the track always struck me as likely to be archaeology even though they did not appear as such, not even a name. Then from the Harray parish book finally I knew them to be the Knowes o' Congar/Conger [?conningair 'warren'] or St.Magnus Resting Place, stretching up to the junction where you would turn off for the Merkister Hotel. At a knoll here about St.John's Eve a year's-worth of grain from a field of one acre was given to the church by Mychal, a man in honour of whom St.Michael's Kirk may have been named. These mounds are not to be confused with the two called the Knowes of Conyar/Coynear (according to HY31NW 44 leastways) that used to be N of Conyar, as those were in Sandwick parish - one 32'D the other 20'D [indistinct even in 1929 so not necessarily vanished altogether]. The mound nearest the Nisthouse junction I later realised has now the seperate name Knowe of Browsky but that will be named after the unknown excavator. These are all long mounds gathered about the lochans Shunan and Parro Shun (pronounced Chinyan, meaning 'the loch', and Peedachin/Padachin i.e. peerie/peedie 'small' chinyan) on heathland. Several are painted purple by the heather, though the tallest one (possibly excavated) only at one end. I'm not sure if this latter is one mound or two as it seems to have a 'saddle' behind the heathery portion. Beside the mound's northern side are a pair of large erect stone 'gateposts' - a shame as I had hoped to find a single Mansie's Stone for St.Magnus. However my reading of the Harray book is that the purely Congar knowes were only between Parro Shun and the road, with this mound in a field called Daman (?'twin hills' if Celtic).
North of the junction for Merkister and still east of the Harray Road are more long mounds, the grass-covered Park Knowes, and apart from the nearest one to the road none looking excavated from where I stood roadside. There's one of the Park Knowes behind the next dwelling along from this and the rest west and south-west of that IIRC (centred HY303196) to Brown Brae. Something in me sees the mound by Laxhowe [lake mound] at the head of the T (HY30361943) as one of the Park Knowes though it would make a good candidate for the knoll where the Man's Body rested. And it has definitely been dug. At first glance this seems to have been purely in road-making. Then on second viewing on the dug side is a circular appearance that would result from antiquarian investigation. Indeed a closer look brings the possibilty of this being part of a petite hornwork, helped by the few exposed stones being high up at its back, threee standing against the present face of the mound. One small stone lower down of brick proportions could be a rectangular block. On my later visit zooming in on the knowe behind this one revealed another pair of large erect stone 'gateposts' like those mentioned earlier, so might there have been a broad track passing through the two sets of knowes at some time.
Now I crossed the junction. Between where Russland Cottage and Lynfield are now is where the 'Knowes of Coynear' are, or were. The road continues on to the lochside Merkister Hotel before turning - the hotel and anciliary buildings are post 1882, an old 'new build' on a greenfield site. Turning away from the Merkister past the two dwellings on the N side of the road is the field of the Fairy Howes (HY299190), but it's difficult to make much out when you're looking on the wrong side !. The next turn is around the modernised Mill Cottage (for sale to some lucky sod. From here almost due south a teardrop of land sticks out into the Loch of Harray. This site is Burrian (Russland), HY21NW 29 at HY29611834, much favoured by early antiquarians. Despite being much dug into it has been identified as either either a solid-based broch or a wheelhouse (though it strikes me that wheelhouse is now replacing broch as a stock answer). From here on I grew less and less certain of my location, difficult even on much straighter roads owing to most places having no nameplates. The most confusing bit I eventually found out is called Man(n)aneeban. Here the land looms over the road and drops down to the Burn of Netherbrough. On the downhill side of the road here a big stone wall loops around and (I think) hides the waterfall called The Forces that I found out about afterwards. Above the road feels like my idea of a creek. Or a huge excavation. Further on looking back along this at an edge of the land above there is a tall stone 'gatepost' with a very short piece of drystane wall a few feet away very out of place. Perhaps these relate to the nearby well (or wellspring) at HY31071731. A little further on I pursue a sidetrack heading north to Runas as far as the burn. More shots of tree shrouded settlement. Returning there are large stones made into a low wall along the steep rise on the E side of the track- most likely from the footbridge shown on the 1st 25" (stepping stones in the Harray book) if the present bridge isn't it.
Not long from there to the Harray road. Further to the Harray junction to await the bus back home.
Labels: Grimeston Girlie, Harray Church Broch, Knowe of Browsky, Knowes o' Congar, Knowes of Coynear, Kowes of Congar, Mananeeban, Overbrough, Springfield Quarryman, Venus of The Whins, Whins Wifie
Saturday, September 04, 2010
IDOLISING HARRAY 2 BROCH IDOLS
Having seen photos of three more idols the Springfield Quarryman found by Andrew Appleby still stands on its own by reason of its form. Of the two Brecks of Netherbrough steatite figures one resembles that from Dale by having a square corner with the head atop this. But its right-hand side starts with a short vertical and continues with a long vertical to the neck i.e. as if a naive drawing of a house terminated at the chimney. The second one is equally angular but with the head central above a wedge-shaped body (inevitably bringing to mind the Westray Wifie as this is fresh in the memory). The third idol comes from George Petrie [Archaeologica Scotica V, p.90]. This 13" high dressed stone has similar proportions but is curvilinear, with an ovoid head which appears to be hunched slightly forward and having more of a neck than the others except Quarryman. The edges appear bevelled. Petrie says similar figures have come from several brochs - he gives as examples Berstane, Hillock of Breakna, Hoxa, Steeringlo and Eves Howe (or perhaps Howan).
Having seen photos of three more idols the Springfield Quarryman found by Andrew Appleby still stands on its own by reason of its form. Of the two Brecks of Netherbrough steatite figures one resembles that from Dale by having a square corner with the head atop this. But its right-hand side starts with a short vertical and continues with a long vertical to the neck i.e. as if a naive drawing of a house terminated at the chimney. The second one is equally angular but with the head central above a wedge-shaped body (inevitably bringing to mind the Westray Wifie as this is fresh in the memory). The third idol comes from George Petrie [Archaeologica Scotica V, p.90]. This 13" high dressed stone has similar proportions but is curvilinear, with an ovoid head which appears to be hunched slightly forward and having more of a neck than the others except Quarryman. The edges appear bevelled. Petrie says similar figures have come from several brochs - he gives as examples Berstane, Hillock of Breakna, Hoxa, Steeringlo and Eves Howe (or perhaps Howan).
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
HOUTON-ONSTON-BRODGAR JUNE 24th 2010
Took the bus to Houton, which backs up opposite the lodge. Leaving the new ferry pier behind I decide to have another peek at the nausts down this side of the next pier. They still haul boats here and I see there is an exceedingly narrow path twisting down the bank a couple of metres high, so take myself down for more photos. The boat nousts are a mix of drystone walling and small and lengthy blocks. Don't know if this is handsome mishmash is the result of repairs or differing strengths needed. Certainly their origins lie before the old pier, as on the large-scale map the naust nearer to the pier shows as half lopped-off. Indeed though there may be more of it under the vegetation all you can see is a doubling of the wall with the remaining complete one. Close by the latter is a boatshed with two runners down to the sea, though it seems to be out of use as the doors' red paint is thoroughly fragmented.
Did think about taking the Scorradale road only to consider it a hill too far that day. So back up the ferry road and then left to the Clowally turn. Along the way I see two close steadings being demolished. If a replacement is being built I hope it will have suitably Orcadian features, not some wood monstosum that even on the mainland wouldna pass for traditional (come to that why do some drystane walls nowadays get Englished when re-built, this ain't The Peaks). At the rear of the large agricultural buildings Clowally has various lumps and bumps with stones sticking oot, including a big one, and even the O.S. shows no quaries this side. Perhaps a clue comes from its being named for a very old trackway going up to the ridge, according to Hugh Marwick's informant ("Orkney Farm Names" [sorely in need of a reprint and some sort of update, incomers would buy it in droves to name their new builds for instance]). Over from Clowally is the track I came up last time, likely part of said track (and possibly once going to Head Of Houton and the original kirk).
Continuing I came to an old dwelling on my left which I wrongly assumed to be Coubister as this was much further along the road. My error arises because I am terrible at gauging distances from maps- every time that I come this way my brain says Sower is just over the hill from Clowally [I am interested in the Castle, Hillock of Hoorse-ha (most likely not Broch Age but a smaller version of whatever lies beneath The Cairns in Eyrland, further towards Waithe)]. This site is Park Cottage at HY31140457, though it seems probable to me the cottage designation is late as it is evident that the present road has prevented its proper development. For what we have are three sections going diagonally up the hillside, each on its own level, though the furthest one has two windows and is the only one with chimneys too [a chimbley either end in fact] and behind it a wall is built back against the hill. The structure nearest the road has remained in use longest as it has a woodbeam and corrugated iron roof, whereas the other two stll have the remains of large slab roofing (small slab roofs are later). The middle section has been two features/structures as there is a vertical 'line' down the side - the first half has a stoop before the doorway and the second has a lintelled square/rectangular hole at the bottom next to the far end. Most of this is in the photos from roadside as I saw no near entry point for the field to proceed further this time. N.B. as elsewhere in Orkney "park" in the mediaeval sense, as in well parks or the parks of Scapa
At one point I fancied there were archaeologists up near the hill ridge looking fer summat as there were two or three big vehicles in what looked an out of the way place. Either that or perhaps a field studies group. Anyway they seemed to disperse sharpish as I watched so probably neither. Shortly after the northern end of the Scorradale road a gentleman who was trying a new way back fron a Renault dealer offered me a lift. I had refused an earlier offer (when the weather is fine a car interior can be fiercesome hot to the walker) and, realising higher powers were at work, got in. Went as far as the smithy junction before the Brig o' Waithe.
The tide being about to turn I did briefly consider that shore walk to Stromness again. Need to look at Quoyelsh again as last time what I thought to be a natural rock line at shore level showed up very artificial on the photo I took of something [probably] else. From the far end I then saw that at the very least this comprises a flat narrow rectilinear face from which the stone swept back in an arc and having rectangular forms at the other, which would mean this is the structure Marwick saw. Two options, that from this wall the building goes to the Point or that it comes to the shore - a very faint third possibily is that this is actually a collapsed vertical. Dave Lynn was wondering about the origins of the name Quoyelsh and my initial thought was the meaning for Elsness. Here the first element is thought to refer either to cramp (vitreous material, usually cinerary) or a cave. Of course with the Vikings this could be a kening i.e. it may have meant both. However, from my researches in The Orkney Room in this case the element appears to be the dialect word for an awl, thus referring to the Point itself. Still too close to high tide for a repeat walk. So I did something as it turned out equally daft.
Decided to attempt reaching the Cummi Ness sites from the north. So headed back towards Orphir, stopping a liittle short of Vasmire where on the west side of the road there is a [?track-turned-] drain runs to the shore by the side of the first fence I encountered. Made my way carefully as near the shore third 'burn' disappears below tallish vegetation. So continued down to the shore. This is composed of turf with watery channels running through and about, rather dodgy stuff. Almost the first thing that happened was my foot slipped in between. I fell forward, and whilst one hand sunk into the grass the other buried itself in one of the myriad potholes. A few metres further on my walking shoe went whoosh down a covered hole and the grungy water soaked onto my foot (fortunately not the one whose ankle I had twisted recently). From hereon in I went exceedingly careful. But after about 250m a real burn finally defeated me, so not even as far as Harbasue, let alone Dead Sand. At least from here I could see that the low mound where an aerial photo has the Cummi Ness cropmarks there is a similar one close to. I would say this is Gorrie's house as distinct from Gorrie's Knowe, though rather than being to do with a?Viking called Gorrie it strikes me as a variant of the placenaname Gyre/Gears (referring, then, to the triangular ness). From further photos the ness itself might not be so bad if you only approach it from the north by way of the broch as I originally thought. At least I tried. Decided not to risk going back via the drain but go to the bridge along the shore as much as possible. Only another 300m, so 850m in all ! At least there were small pieces of more pasture-like grass to my grand hopscotch now. Of that three hundred the first O.S. shows a path above high tide mark from where I had come down then turning back onto land after passing between an irregular tapering feature [? pond] about 20m long by roughly 3m wide and a much peedier version, from which another 100m to main road. There's probably some interesting stuff this side as from a very cursory inspection the tiny channels in one spot held fragments of a decorated dinner set [19thC perhaps] and in another a beer bottle, date unknown. Tide brought ?? Darn dodgy even with the right footwear. And then I had to climb up at the bridge as new fences stopped me going up any further from the shore.
Went to Unstan tomb again as I only have a slightly shaky picture of the bird on the lintel of the west chamber. Seem to be more graffiti than on the occasion I shot that. Though there is no mention of it in the 1884 papers there is plenty of evidence for such observational 'failures' of more famous sites even in recent times [and straightforward omissions]. If it weren't for the fact that this had been an unopened mound one would be thinking in terms of Pictish art. The neck seems short and the beak rather stubby for a loom (Great Northern Diver) or a scarf (cormorant). The neck might suit some geese, especially as there is a knob/Neb at the back of the beak. But the knobby beak aside a duck might be a better suit. Ah, skeldro 'sheldrake'. Evidence of its age is the wavy diagonal line that respects the bird instead of crossing it - perhap the lintel engraving had been intended as part of a larger scene.
I came to Brodgar the day before end of dig, as though they have made lovely discoveries on last days much will be be going back under black plastic early on the day. The 'shack' that is Bridgend had two workmen on top painting the roof brightly (but eventually abandoned the last corner for the day because of the rain later).
Past Bridgend went around the back of the Kokna-Cumming mound to come upon the Lesser Wall of Brodgar from behind by a gentler slope. Glad they have realised that this is a late feature as otherwise what would one make of the Brodgar standing stone pair straddling its view eastwards and the tomb outside its supposed remit. To me the point of it is to face the Staneyhill Tomb - I forget what they call it in political science but it is like gardeners "borrowing a view" by bringing a further vista into the visitor's eyeline. What does this mean for the hypothesis that the Greater Wall of Brodgar was meant to form a northern boundary to the whole Ness assemblage ? It doesn't seem to have any similar alignment [and perhaps too thick to find a statistically valid one anyhow] but is it equally late, performing a non-liminal function yet to be identified. At the bottom of the Lesser Wall's southern side there is now a pavement just under the level of the Wall base by the remains of what is to my eye another wall at a slight angle to the later Wall. Near the bottom of the Wall it looks to me as if there are what is left of two cruder walls parallel to one another over and at right angles to my putative earlier wall, and hence
the pavement below. To my dismay the area of trench behind the Wall has still not been dug below the level of its top. Probably a "health and safety" thing. Here there are two arcs of collapsed wall, perhaps an inner and outer section. Not that this necessarily means one or both had not been straight when still standing. Oh, I can barely wait for their investigation. And then maybe sometime they can go down to the Wall base here to see if the Lesser Wall might be part of some other structure yet.
On to the main Ness of Brodgar site a bit of height not only gains you perspective but also frees you of photographing beige stone against beige stone and having to decipher it later ! First up is the new to this season next-to-roadside observation platform with a long ramp for wheelchair access. Then there are the large spoil heaps by the northern and western sides, as long as you don't mind the shifting soil underfoot in places. The space between Lochview and the dig is too smaa for anything but a photographic tower for the bosses, and Joe Public can't use that. I thought that I hadn't been on the tower at the Howe of Howe but my memory plas me fause and I indeed took several shots from it. It amazes me that at first glance the site looks practically the same as last time. Up on the platform on this side of the site the bulk is taken up by Structure 10 on your left with its, ahem, standing stone. No work is ongoing in the 'cathedral' now. In front of the platform's near end Structure 8 is divine. Along the western edge are what I see as three sub-square interior cells but on plan I see are duplicated on the opposite side, forming two rectangular and one long oval sub-divisions of the whole. This is basically how it has looked since last year. But on my third visit of the season exterior to the northern wall at the trenches edge are (I think) three small strucures that make you think of mini-roundhouses. All this mixing of linear and circular or sub-circular forms throughout the site strike me as less a striving for a practical form [and/or effective ritual space] and more the search for an artistic vision, squaring the circle to put the art into architecture. Very nice, whatever. Next is the small Structure 7, pinned between 8 and the Structure 1+9 combo.
The latter can be seen from the first spoil heap. This is where I start. Today the weather lashed down from Lyde whilst I stood on top. Reminded me of the time when three seperate thunderstorms converged on Howe and I eventually went in to leave supervisor Stephen solitary like a tall lightning rod before he was finally ordered in. Up here the first thing you spot is a large circular wall arc [?9 - the structure plan on Orkneyjar is from the season's start] in front of which work has been going on in a linear structure apparently leading up and terminating before it with what I take to be either the wide facade of a forecourt or two flanking ?guard-cells. Looking left from this by the edge of the trench is a short length of low parallel orthostats that catch my eye but have been left behind for now.
From the top of the next spoil heap is a clear view of Structure 1, a large structure (oval or semi figure-of-eight) with rectangular niches or cells scattered along the interior edge. These are formed by the drystane walling (but multi-coloured) and tall thin orthostats. Near the trench edge to the right a double wall or pair of walls with pavement between them is nicely exposed. At the far end of the mound I look south to Structure 12, a large clean-looking oval with a couple of long cells. On my previous visit I only noticed the one nearest the spoil heap after I got back from an image taken near Lochview. That nearest the road looked as if someone had taken the Great Wall of Brodgar and removed the flesh to leave a rectangular skin.
The space between 12 and 10, or in 10, has three or four standing stones. I think they are roughly in a square. It is remarkable how many odd stones are scattered about the site, different in colour (red makes a change from beige) or shape (proper looking standing stones or blocky forms mostly). Not too much rhyme or reason for the most part, so I am thinking this is just a monumental version of picking up a pebble on a beach and taking it home.
All the above is only how I have this eclectic site in my mind's eye. Carefully as they excavate still there are different stages in any season's dig, structure's co-mingle and turn out to be part of other's. During an extended period of experimentation you can't even sort features out by materials used. And any single structure can be such a glorious mix of drystane walls, slabs, orthostats and standing stones, along with what I might call exhibition pieces.
By the time I am done with all three cameras there are still twenty minutes until the next tour and I give a moment's thought to tagging along for the display of new finds at its end. You are never sure what will be displayed or whether you will be able to take piccies, the latter depends on the group more than the presenter. When you're feeling faint walking is better than standing, for the former is merely a controlled fall biologically speaking. So straight on to Tormiston and the bus home.
Took the bus to Houton, which backs up opposite the lodge. Leaving the new ferry pier behind I decide to have another peek at the nausts down this side of the next pier. They still haul boats here and I see there is an exceedingly narrow path twisting down the bank a couple of metres high, so take myself down for more photos. The boat nousts are a mix of drystone walling and small and lengthy blocks. Don't know if this is handsome mishmash is the result of repairs or differing strengths needed. Certainly their origins lie before the old pier, as on the large-scale map the naust nearer to the pier shows as half lopped-off. Indeed though there may be more of it under the vegetation all you can see is a doubling of the wall with the remaining complete one. Close by the latter is a boatshed with two runners down to the sea, though it seems to be out of use as the doors' red paint is thoroughly fragmented.
Did think about taking the Scorradale road only to consider it a hill too far that day. So back up the ferry road and then left to the Clowally turn. Along the way I see two close steadings being demolished. If a replacement is being built I hope it will have suitably Orcadian features, not some wood monstosum that even on the mainland wouldna pass for traditional (come to that why do some drystane walls nowadays get Englished when re-built, this ain't The Peaks). At the rear of the large agricultural buildings Clowally has various lumps and bumps with stones sticking oot, including a big one, and even the O.S. shows no quaries this side. Perhaps a clue comes from its being named for a very old trackway going up to the ridge, according to Hugh Marwick's informant ("Orkney Farm Names" [sorely in need of a reprint and some sort of update, incomers would buy it in droves to name their new builds for instance]). Over from Clowally is the track I came up last time, likely part of said track (and possibly once going to Head Of Houton and the original kirk).
Continuing I came to an old dwelling on my left which I wrongly assumed to be Coubister as this was much further along the road. My error arises because I am terrible at gauging distances from maps- every time that I come this way my brain says Sower is just over the hill from Clowally [I am interested in the Castle, Hillock of Hoorse-ha (most likely not Broch Age but a smaller version of whatever lies beneath The Cairns in Eyrland, further towards Waithe)]. This site is Park Cottage at HY31140457, though it seems probable to me the cottage designation is late as it is evident that the present road has prevented its proper development. For what we have are three sections going diagonally up the hillside, each on its own level, though the furthest one has two windows and is the only one with chimneys too [a chimbley either end in fact] and behind it a wall is built back against the hill. The structure nearest the road has remained in use longest as it has a woodbeam and corrugated iron roof, whereas the other two stll have the remains of large slab roofing (small slab roofs are later). The middle section has been two features/structures as there is a vertical 'line' down the side - the first half has a stoop before the doorway and the second has a lintelled square/rectangular hole at the bottom next to the far end. Most of this is in the photos from roadside as I saw no near entry point for the field to proceed further this time. N.B. as elsewhere in Orkney "park" in the mediaeval sense, as in well parks or the parks of Scapa
At one point I fancied there were archaeologists up near the hill ridge looking fer summat as there were two or three big vehicles in what looked an out of the way place. Either that or perhaps a field studies group. Anyway they seemed to disperse sharpish as I watched so probably neither. Shortly after the northern end of the Scorradale road a gentleman who was trying a new way back fron a Renault dealer offered me a lift. I had refused an earlier offer (when the weather is fine a car interior can be fiercesome hot to the walker) and, realising higher powers were at work, got in. Went as far as the smithy junction before the Brig o' Waithe.
The tide being about to turn I did briefly consider that shore walk to Stromness again. Need to look at Quoyelsh again as last time what I thought to be a natural rock line at shore level showed up very artificial on the photo I took of something [probably] else. From the far end I then saw that at the very least this comprises a flat narrow rectilinear face from which the stone swept back in an arc and having rectangular forms at the other, which would mean this is the structure Marwick saw. Two options, that from this wall the building goes to the Point or that it comes to the shore - a very faint third possibily is that this is actually a collapsed vertical. Dave Lynn was wondering about the origins of the name Quoyelsh and my initial thought was the meaning for Elsness. Here the first element is thought to refer either to cramp (vitreous material, usually cinerary) or a cave. Of course with the Vikings this could be a kening i.e. it may have meant both. However, from my researches in The Orkney Room in this case the element appears to be the dialect word for an awl, thus referring to the Point itself. Still too close to high tide for a repeat walk. So I did something as it turned out equally daft.
Decided to attempt reaching the Cummi Ness sites from the north. So headed back towards Orphir, stopping a liittle short of Vasmire where on the west side of the road there is a [?track-turned-] drain runs to the shore by the side of the first fence I encountered. Made my way carefully as near the shore third 'burn' disappears below tallish vegetation. So continued down to the shore. This is composed of turf with watery channels running through and about, rather dodgy stuff. Almost the first thing that happened was my foot slipped in between. I fell forward, and whilst one hand sunk into the grass the other buried itself in one of the myriad potholes. A few metres further on my walking shoe went whoosh down a covered hole and the grungy water soaked onto my foot (fortunately not the one whose ankle I had twisted recently). From hereon in I went exceedingly careful. But after about 250m a real burn finally defeated me, so not even as far as Harbasue, let alone Dead Sand. At least from here I could see that the low mound where an aerial photo has the Cummi Ness cropmarks there is a similar one close to. I would say this is Gorrie's house as distinct from Gorrie's Knowe, though rather than being to do with a?Viking called Gorrie it strikes me as a variant of the placenaname Gyre/Gears (referring, then, to the triangular ness). From further photos the ness itself might not be so bad if you only approach it from the north by way of the broch as I originally thought. At least I tried. Decided not to risk going back via the drain but go to the bridge along the shore as much as possible. Only another 300m, so 850m in all ! At least there were small pieces of more pasture-like grass to my grand hopscotch now. Of that three hundred the first O.S. shows a path above high tide mark from where I had come down then turning back onto land after passing between an irregular tapering feature [? pond] about 20m long by roughly 3m wide and a much peedier version, from which another 100m to main road. There's probably some interesting stuff this side as from a very cursory inspection the tiny channels in one spot held fragments of a decorated dinner set [19thC perhaps] and in another a beer bottle, date unknown. Tide brought ?? Darn dodgy even with the right footwear. And then I had to climb up at the bridge as new fences stopped me going up any further from the shore.
Went to Unstan tomb again as I only have a slightly shaky picture of the bird on the lintel of the west chamber. Seem to be more graffiti than on the occasion I shot that. Though there is no mention of it in the 1884 papers there is plenty of evidence for such observational 'failures' of more famous sites even in recent times [and straightforward omissions]. If it weren't for the fact that this had been an unopened mound one would be thinking in terms of Pictish art. The neck seems short and the beak rather stubby for a loom (Great Northern Diver) or a scarf (cormorant). The neck might suit some geese, especially as there is a knob/Neb at the back of the beak. But the knobby beak aside a duck might be a better suit. Ah, skeldro 'sheldrake'. Evidence of its age is the wavy diagonal line that respects the bird instead of crossing it - perhap the lintel engraving had been intended as part of a larger scene.
I came to Brodgar the day before end of dig, as though they have made lovely discoveries on last days much will be be going back under black plastic early on the day. The 'shack' that is Bridgend had two workmen on top painting the roof brightly (but eventually abandoned the last corner for the day because of the rain later).
Past Bridgend went around the back of the Kokna-Cumming mound to come upon the Lesser Wall of Brodgar from behind by a gentler slope. Glad they have realised that this is a late feature as otherwise what would one make of the Brodgar standing stone pair straddling its view eastwards and the tomb outside its supposed remit. To me the point of it is to face the Staneyhill Tomb - I forget what they call it in political science but it is like gardeners "borrowing a view" by bringing a further vista into the visitor's eyeline. What does this mean for the hypothesis that the Greater Wall of Brodgar was meant to form a northern boundary to the whole Ness assemblage ? It doesn't seem to have any similar alignment [and perhaps too thick to find a statistically valid one anyhow] but is it equally late, performing a non-liminal function yet to be identified. At the bottom of the Lesser Wall's southern side there is now a pavement just under the level of the Wall base by the remains of what is to my eye another wall at a slight angle to the later Wall. Near the bottom of the Wall it looks to me as if there are what is left of two cruder walls parallel to one another over and at right angles to my putative earlier wall, and hence
the pavement below. To my dismay the area of trench behind the Wall has still not been dug below the level of its top. Probably a "health and safety" thing. Here there are two arcs of collapsed wall, perhaps an inner and outer section. Not that this necessarily means one or both had not been straight when still standing. Oh, I can barely wait for their investigation. And then maybe sometime they can go down to the Wall base here to see if the Lesser Wall might be part of some other structure yet.
On to the main Ness of Brodgar site a bit of height not only gains you perspective but also frees you of photographing beige stone against beige stone and having to decipher it later ! First up is the new to this season next-to-roadside observation platform with a long ramp for wheelchair access. Then there are the large spoil heaps by the northern and western sides, as long as you don't mind the shifting soil underfoot in places. The space between Lochview and the dig is too smaa for anything but a photographic tower for the bosses, and Joe Public can't use that. I thought that I hadn't been on the tower at the Howe of Howe but my memory plas me fause and I indeed took several shots from it. It amazes me that at first glance the site looks practically the same as last time. Up on the platform on this side of the site the bulk is taken up by Structure 10 on your left with its, ahem, standing stone. No work is ongoing in the 'cathedral' now. In front of the platform's near end Structure 8 is divine. Along the western edge are what I see as three sub-square interior cells but on plan I see are duplicated on the opposite side, forming two rectangular and one long oval sub-divisions of the whole. This is basically how it has looked since last year. But on my third visit of the season exterior to the northern wall at the trenches edge are (I think) three small strucures that make you think of mini-roundhouses. All this mixing of linear and circular or sub-circular forms throughout the site strike me as less a striving for a practical form [and/or effective ritual space] and more the search for an artistic vision, squaring the circle to put the art into architecture. Very nice, whatever. Next is the small Structure 7, pinned between 8 and the Structure 1+9 combo.
The latter can be seen from the first spoil heap. This is where I start. Today the weather lashed down from Lyde whilst I stood on top. Reminded me of the time when three seperate thunderstorms converged on Howe and I eventually went in to leave supervisor Stephen solitary like a tall lightning rod before he was finally ordered in. Up here the first thing you spot is a large circular wall arc [?9 - the structure plan on Orkneyjar is from the season's start] in front of which work has been going on in a linear structure apparently leading up and terminating before it with what I take to be either the wide facade of a forecourt or two flanking ?guard-cells. Looking left from this by the edge of the trench is a short length of low parallel orthostats that catch my eye but have been left behind for now.
From the top of the next spoil heap is a clear view of Structure 1, a large structure (oval or semi figure-of-eight) with rectangular niches or cells scattered along the interior edge. These are formed by the drystane walling (but multi-coloured) and tall thin orthostats. Near the trench edge to the right a double wall or pair of walls with pavement between them is nicely exposed. At the far end of the mound I look south to Structure 12, a large clean-looking oval with a couple of long cells. On my previous visit I only noticed the one nearest the spoil heap after I got back from an image taken near Lochview. That nearest the road looked as if someone had taken the Great Wall of Brodgar and removed the flesh to leave a rectangular skin.
The space between 12 and 10, or in 10, has three or four standing stones. I think they are roughly in a square. It is remarkable how many odd stones are scattered about the site, different in colour (red makes a change from beige) or shape (proper looking standing stones or blocky forms mostly). Not too much rhyme or reason for the most part, so I am thinking this is just a monumental version of picking up a pebble on a beach and taking it home.
All the above is only how I have this eclectic site in my mind's eye. Carefully as they excavate still there are different stages in any season's dig, structure's co-mingle and turn out to be part of other's. During an extended period of experimentation you can't even sort features out by materials used. And any single structure can be such a glorious mix of drystane walls, slabs, orthostats and standing stones, along with what I might call exhibition pieces.
By the time I am done with all three cameras there are still twenty minutes until the next tour and I give a moment's thought to tagging along for the display of new finds at its end. You are never sure what will be displayed or whether you will be able to take piccies, the latter depends on the group more than the presenter. When you're feeling faint walking is better than standing, for the former is merely a controlled fall biologically speaking. So straight on to Tormiston and the bus home.
Labels: Clowally, Cummi Ness, Gorrie Knowe, Hoorse-ha, Houton, naust, Ness of Brodgar, noust, Onston, Park Cottage, Quoyelsh, Unstan
