Thursday, December 30, 2010
FINSTOWN TO TINGWALL November 13th 2010
Took the bus to Finstown then went past The Hillock and over the bridge across the Oyce (a tidal inlet, same word as ouse). It is the first time I have walked this way since they built the walkway alongside the bridge, so I took the opportunity for some photies using wide angle because it is so close to. On my way again I stopped at several places for shots of (the island of) Damsay in the distance - there's a large high building by the lochan on it that doesn't appear on Canmap at all, no NMRs, no schedule that might obviously relate. Very odd. Before I have gotten even as far as Norseman 'village' I see a very big curved bank on my left in a roadside field but couldn't work out where I was at the time. It being a bit drizzly I am thankful when a couple in a camper van give me a lift. Quite surprised that they were in a position to take me onto the Gorseness Road (marked for the Rendall Doocot).
Fortunately my map is to 1:25,000 and I could work out where I needed to be. Breck Farm stretches either side of the road with Breck House uphill beyond it at the top of a junction. A sign points the way to the doocot and church (unfortunately the latter turns out to be not one of my intended targets). The side road takes you down to the Hall of Rendall. Looking across seaward the three NMRS comprising the Tammaskirk site are the church HY42SW 11 at the LH side (HY42492102), the broch [IA settlement leastways] to the right HY42SW 12 (HY42502097), and behind these HY42SW 34 which includes these but mostly the cemetery (HY42622099). I imagine that this must once have been of comparable size to Wass Wick to the north, also a triangular coastal site. St Thomas Kirk itself was excavated by Clouston in 1931, when he found it comprised a 23x14' nave and 14x9'6" chancel - measurements internal, the partialy exposed footings were some 3'-4'6" thick. He suggested a 12thC date but two different construction phases (his trenches and spoil heaps remain for future generations). In addition it is now thought that there was an earlier ecclesiastical presence in this area too. He held the chancel to be reinforced in order to support a short tower whilst later authorities opine this had been for a vaulted ceiling - myself I think the former to accord more with the vernacular ecclesiastical practice of that time. At some time the east gable remains became the west end of an unroofed hut-like structure likened by him to "a kind of inland projection" from the wall skirting the beach. A later resistivity survey indicates the S side of the kirkyard boundary some ten yards from the footings then coming back round to the north wall of the nave. This backs up Clouston, who noted wall traces at the east end of the kirk's south side and a 2'9" thich wall striking out due west from the kirk's NW corner then making a bend before ending where it has been robbed of stone. In 1983 the kirk remains are said to be on the cliff-edge with entry to the kirkyard by what is known as a devil's-gate, a stone style built into a drystone wall [I assume he isn't thinking of the 1837 chapel of South Ettit on the other side of the manse regarding that]. My photos taken on the road down show a long wall (the distance
between seven fenceposts at least) by the far end of the site and probably at the cliff edge, beyond the fieldwall and rather higher than it, that is two unresolved walls of said 'hut'. Drilling down for an aerial view on 192.com shows the 'hut' at the very tip of the north end of a complex arrangement of walls.
The 1983 article mentions skeletal remains eroding into the sea from the oldest part of the cemetery as does a 2000 survey. However when an emergency excavation took place in the last week of February 2005 into March it was said that Cristopher Gee had found the recently eroding burials five years before, which indicates a short memory or distinct multiple areas of erosion. Ronald Cook of the present Hall of Rendall gave permission for the dig to take place. Out of twenty-one bodies found at the east end of the kirk five were simply recorded and left where they were as being (comparatively) safe under stones and turf. Those burials fully excavated came from below shallow shingle either on the foreshore or under collapsed wall rubble, and of these eight were missing their lower legs. Stones were laid over the heads and others acted as pillows. The excavators also had a topographical survey made of all three areas of the site i.e. kirk, kirkyard and Iron Age settlement. An archive is to be given to the NMRS.
The settlement has been assigned to the Iron Age from Broch Age sherds and a bone comb (this from near the site's north end). But it should be noted that a decorated stone ball (AS 180) has also been found here so that like Brockan in Stromness it could be multi-period, and indeed it has been compared to other chambered settlements such as the Knowe of Nesthouse. A domestic midden amongst other items contained blackened stones and pot fragments and a flat stone disc (?potlid). Early reports are of a broch with a 60' by 24' rectangular enclosure to its south and traces of a structure of unknown age a short distance to the west. At least half the site has been lost to the sea and/or 'mined' for building material, though the mound is still surrounded by a substantial outwork. In 1946 the Royal Commission believed outbuildings were shown by N/S aligned drystane walling in an eroded bank parallel to a shoreline wall close to. Erosion has revealed two sections of hefty walling such as would belong to an Atlantic roundhouse [let's call it a broch for old times sake], and as well as possible occupation on the seaward side further coursed masonry and vertical slabs suggestive of external buildings.
Unfortunately I only had shoes on, not welligogs, and the open gateway stepped into a mess of mashed up mud and puddles (too deep even for the high-sided walking shoes I had on) that completely blocked entry. So I betook myself across the way to the doocot via two peedie duckboard bridges. HY42SW 2 at HY42242073 is a beehive dovecote eighteen foot high on the ootside (in 1957 that is) but 12'3 internally, with walls some four foot thick. In 1946 the deteriorated structure no longer had a roof, and in 1957 the diameter at the top is roughly ten foot. After renewal some twenty years ago [source Orkney Live website] it has a roof once more. It is a thing of beauty that towers darkly over you as you approach, with four levels of drystane walling (nd some blocks are quite big)seperated by thin flags and a final ring over the top. The lowish gated doorway is on the far side. Externally the door had a lintel - the inner doorway is a few courses higher. Inside is, naturally, covered in squishy bird poop. Straining the neck up the interior is liberally spotted with small niches for the birdies themselves. I wasn't really aware of how much water passes by here until I saw the broad and fast-running stream that runs to the shore, making me wonder if the doocot replaces an earlier mill.
After visiting the dovecote I tried where the [?mill]stream goes to shore, but the waters were too deep to cross. Away from the shore, though feeling close, there is a small islet. Much longer than it is broad and having a noticeable curve. This is the Holm of Rendall (HY42832074).Technically there are two differences between a skerry and a holm, not just the most-remembered one that the latter is always above water but also that the holm can graze seven sheep. I am not sure whether this one could still do that. On the first O.S. 25" map it is shown a having a cairn, but its only NMRS is for a ship that went down here. My feeling is that this could be a slighter version of the burnt mound 'crannog' at Voyatown.
Following the track that runs from the Hall of Rendall to the South Ettit graveyard I came to a modern water-trough in a field to my left that played host to a large number of stones, varying in size and some apparently modelled by man. I wonder if these are the remains of the empty cist found in 1969 whilst ploughing. Not that these would necessarily be in situ - the findspot was a ridge in what is called the 'manse field'. The Ha' cist, HY42SW 19 at HY424203, was trapezoidal (1.12m long by 0.92m and 0.76m) and aligned NNE/SSW. I think it may have been re-used, or have been constructed from re-used materials, as the difference between side and end stones has had to be made up with thin slabs. In any case the only contents are said to have been an even layer of clay and water had been seeping in for some time - would we have done any better nowadays ??
Between the old manse and the graveyard I saw that my next target, the Knowe of Dishero/o [aka Discrow 'mound enclosure], has a new fence around it and no easy access evident. On the 1st 25" O.S. several slopes are shown. On the map the site aligns NE/SW, with at the eastern side a rectilinear half (having a sub-rectangular pit [or perhaps stone] at right angles to the longer side half-way along), at the western side an arc of the same length, and at the northern side two arcs of almost similar sizes (the west one less curved) with a gap between them due north. The RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY41NW 6 describes a broch tower of internal diameter nearly 30' [POAS says 22'] having a 19'6" long section of inner wall-face visible on the west side to a height of some 4'6" with an opening of over 2'6" blocked up in modern times. Inside the east ditch it mentions faint traces of the outer broch wall. According to the POAS there may be a doorway on the SE side. Due west of the broch, up the hill, an underground structure with 5' thick walls lies under the North Ettit houses - a "small ancient quern" came from here sometime before 1927 and it is believed the site might be another broch (HY41NW 4 at HY42051996, slight rise where tusks found in kitchen midden).
Determined to find some way in I decided to see what might pass at the graveyard. So I continued along the tourist track as the farmroad became a farmtrack. Coming towards the burial ground, which sits between the farmtrack and the clifftop, the South A/Ettit Kirk remains (HY41NW 7 at HY42451976) pointing towards me are the parts of 3' thick walls from the remaining east gable and north wall - when another batch of rain passed by this angle proved an adequate shelter as I pressed my back to it. A date of 1732 has been derived from a stone stuck in the later graveyard's gate pillars, and when the graveyard was renovated about the fin-de-siecle old tombstones were unearthed. Perhaps these include the hogback supposed to have been here. I think in 1732 this was a greenfield site as the ground does not have the feel of an Overbrough or even the grounds of the Holm parish church. The kirk may have been dedicated to St.Laurence and had been re-thatched yearly until its last use for worship in 1794 when deterioration led to its abandonment - the walls fell down one Sunday around 1800. Now even the old kirk's interior has been taken up by burials. The devil's-gate here has three steps that come out a long way from the wall on both sides and two vertical slabs either side coming up from the level of the second step and a rectangular gap starting two courses (or is it one thick stone) above the third then ending level with the wall top. This is on the LH side of the 'modern' gate, which is formed by two large square drystone pillars. The seaward wall runs right at the very end of the clifftop - I had hoped to reach the Knowe of Dishero broch between here and the old manse from here somehow. The tradition is that devil's-gates were made as a way of thwarting the devil's attempts to follow the coffin, but I know of at least one that is nearly half-a-mile from any church site and I believe they date instead from the turn of the 19thC at most (probably associated with the Agricultural Improvements then).
Foiled again as the graveyard wall runs right along the clifftop edge and there's literally no getting over it. So I retraced my steps to an open field and approached the broch on a long diagonal. Coming from the end facing the kiryard I was just able to make out one big broad stone about halfway up that looks to be in a depression that I think lies just outside the broch tower. On the side facing the old manse is a broad ditch that seems quite deep and heads for the cliff-edge. It is from this direction I made out the various levels i.e. the ditch, the outer broch, and the broch tower [possibly a fourth can be made out]. From here through the clifftop undergrowth you can see what looks to be a mix betwen a sea-wall and a structure back against the cliff, age unknown. So I took my photos and video from within the field. If I had had longer (and it had been a weekday) I could have crawled under as the grass wasnae too damp. Did not want to miss a bus.
Followed the Gorseness Road round the hill. Then where the road goes down again the mysterious site of Wass Wick lies against the shore. Nothing can be made out of the place despite this being thought another likely broch site. HY42SW 10 at HY41202198 is yet another triangular site. The POAS mention of several stones protruding out of a grassy mound (about 40 yds square and rising 6 ft high at the south and 9 ft on the north side and some forty yards 'square') is backed up by the crofter a couple of decades later telling the Commission there were many building traces scattered over it. It still holds on to its uncultivated state (very rough country) and has not been dug into in modern times. The 1st O.S. and even aerial views from 192.com are no use at all - a strong case for geofizz methinks.
I am sure that somewhere over this side of the hill I have been on the bus when it has made a detour, but even if that had been official it doesn't always and I didn't fancy becoming lost up there trying to jog my memory. Eventually reached Tingwall without sighting the bus I had been hoping for, so it must have taken the strait route along the main road. A couple of hours until the next bus so I decided to walk towards Finstown in hope of catching a ride on. Still light enough to snap a few shots of Tingwall. There are actually two thing-volls here, the major one and another 250 links east of this and five chains SW (go figure). Thought it must be brighter than I thought, but turned out to be the workings of the electronic viewfinder.
Went all the way in the dark. Anytime I heard a vehicle coming I either crossed the road jumped onto the verge or pressed myself hard against the edge. Oh fun and games. Heard and occasionally saw large flocks of geese take flight with a whoosh and a cackle at my approach. Eventually had Finstown in my sights. For some time Baalit had been putting on a fine show with a large bright halo around the moon. This side of the bridge its diameter encompassed almost the whole of Finstown right out to the edges. In town a police car stopped and explained there had been several people calling in concerned about my safety. Forgot my jacket wasn't its predecessor with the orange stripes, nothing to see. Strange no-one of these guid folk had thought to offer me a lift or simply warn me (at one point a big rig had approached me on the opposite side of the road, the type with masses of lights including above the cab, flashed them all on as he came up then switched the blinders off again a he passed me - definitely unfriendly). Told them I was going on the next bus. The other side of Finstown a hurry up to the shelter had me there just seconds ahead of the main bus (the next from Tingwall not due quite yet).
Took the bus to Finstown then went past The Hillock and over the bridge across the Oyce (a tidal inlet, same word as ouse). It is the first time I have walked this way since they built the walkway alongside the bridge, so I took the opportunity for some photies using wide angle because it is so close to. On my way again I stopped at several places for shots of (the island of) Damsay in the distance - there's a large high building by the lochan on it that doesn't appear on Canmap at all, no NMRs, no schedule that might obviously relate. Very odd. Before I have gotten even as far as Norseman 'village' I see a very big curved bank on my left in a roadside field but couldn't work out where I was at the time. It being a bit drizzly I am thankful when a couple in a camper van give me a lift. Quite surprised that they were in a position to take me onto the Gorseness Road (marked for the Rendall Doocot).
Fortunately my map is to 1:25,000 and I could work out where I needed to be. Breck Farm stretches either side of the road with Breck House uphill beyond it at the top of a junction. A sign points the way to the doocot and church (unfortunately the latter turns out to be not one of my intended targets). The side road takes you down to the Hall of Rendall. Looking across seaward the three NMRS comprising the Tammaskirk site are the church HY42SW 11 at the LH side (HY42492102), the broch [IA settlement leastways] to the right HY42SW 12 (HY42502097), and behind these HY42SW 34 which includes these but mostly the cemetery (HY42622099). I imagine that this must once have been of comparable size to Wass Wick to the north, also a triangular coastal site. St Thomas Kirk itself was excavated by Clouston in 1931, when he found it comprised a 23x14' nave and 14x9'6" chancel - measurements internal, the partialy exposed footings were some 3'-4'6" thick. He suggested a 12thC date but two different construction phases (his trenches and spoil heaps remain for future generations). In addition it is now thought that there was an earlier ecclesiastical presence in this area too. He held the chancel to be reinforced in order to support a short tower whilst later authorities opine this had been for a vaulted ceiling - myself I think the former to accord more with the vernacular ecclesiastical practice of that time. At some time the east gable remains became the west end of an unroofed hut-like structure likened by him to "a kind of inland projection" from the wall skirting the beach. A later resistivity survey indicates the S side of the kirkyard boundary some ten yards from the footings then coming back round to the north wall of the nave. This backs up Clouston, who noted wall traces at the east end of the kirk's south side and a 2'9" thich wall striking out due west from the kirk's NW corner then making a bend before ending where it has been robbed of stone. In 1983 the kirk remains are said to be on the cliff-edge with entry to the kirkyard by what is known as a devil's-gate, a stone style built into a drystone wall [I assume he isn't thinking of the 1837 chapel of South Ettit on the other side of the manse regarding that]. My photos taken on the road down show a long wall (the distance
between seven fenceposts at least) by the far end of the site and probably at the cliff edge, beyond the fieldwall and rather higher than it, that is two unresolved walls of said 'hut'. Drilling down for an aerial view on 192.com shows the 'hut' at the very tip of the north end of a complex arrangement of walls.
The 1983 article mentions skeletal remains eroding into the sea from the oldest part of the cemetery as does a 2000 survey. However when an emergency excavation took place in the last week of February 2005 into March it was said that Cristopher Gee had found the recently eroding burials five years before, which indicates a short memory or distinct multiple areas of erosion. Ronald Cook of the present Hall of Rendall gave permission for the dig to take place. Out of twenty-one bodies found at the east end of the kirk five were simply recorded and left where they were as being (comparatively) safe under stones and turf. Those burials fully excavated came from below shallow shingle either on the foreshore or under collapsed wall rubble, and of these eight were missing their lower legs. Stones were laid over the heads and others acted as pillows. The excavators also had a topographical survey made of all three areas of the site i.e. kirk, kirkyard and Iron Age settlement. An archive is to be given to the NMRS.
The settlement has been assigned to the Iron Age from Broch Age sherds and a bone comb (this from near the site's north end). But it should be noted that a decorated stone ball (AS 180) has also been found here so that like Brockan in Stromness it could be multi-period, and indeed it has been compared to other chambered settlements such as the Knowe of Nesthouse. A domestic midden amongst other items contained blackened stones and pot fragments and a flat stone disc (?potlid). Early reports are of a broch with a 60' by 24' rectangular enclosure to its south and traces of a structure of unknown age a short distance to the west. At least half the site has been lost to the sea and/or 'mined' for building material, though the mound is still surrounded by a substantial outwork. In 1946 the Royal Commission believed outbuildings were shown by N/S aligned drystane walling in an eroded bank parallel to a shoreline wall close to. Erosion has revealed two sections of hefty walling such as would belong to an Atlantic roundhouse [let's call it a broch for old times sake], and as well as possible occupation on the seaward side further coursed masonry and vertical slabs suggestive of external buildings.
Unfortunately I only had shoes on, not welligogs, and the open gateway stepped into a mess of mashed up mud and puddles (too deep even for the high-sided walking shoes I had on) that completely blocked entry. So I betook myself across the way to the doocot via two peedie duckboard bridges. HY42SW 2 at HY42242073 is a beehive dovecote eighteen foot high on the ootside (in 1957 that is) but 12'3 internally, with walls some four foot thick. In 1946 the deteriorated structure no longer had a roof, and in 1957 the diameter at the top is roughly ten foot. After renewal some twenty years ago [source Orkney Live website] it has a roof once more. It is a thing of beauty that towers darkly over you as you approach, with four levels of drystane walling (nd some blocks are quite big)seperated by thin flags and a final ring over the top. The lowish gated doorway is on the far side. Externally the door had a lintel - the inner doorway is a few courses higher. Inside is, naturally, covered in squishy bird poop. Straining the neck up the interior is liberally spotted with small niches for the birdies themselves. I wasn't really aware of how much water passes by here until I saw the broad and fast-running stream that runs to the shore, making me wonder if the doocot replaces an earlier mill.
After visiting the dovecote I tried where the [?mill]stream goes to shore, but the waters were too deep to cross. Away from the shore, though feeling close, there is a small islet. Much longer than it is broad and having a noticeable curve. This is the Holm of Rendall (HY42832074).Technically there are two differences between a skerry and a holm, not just the most-remembered one that the latter is always above water but also that the holm can graze seven sheep. I am not sure whether this one could still do that. On the first O.S. 25" map it is shown a having a cairn, but its only NMRS is for a ship that went down here. My feeling is that this could be a slighter version of the burnt mound 'crannog' at Voyatown.
Following the track that runs from the Hall of Rendall to the South Ettit graveyard I came to a modern water-trough in a field to my left that played host to a large number of stones, varying in size and some apparently modelled by man. I wonder if these are the remains of the empty cist found in 1969 whilst ploughing. Not that these would necessarily be in situ - the findspot was a ridge in what is called the 'manse field'. The Ha' cist, HY42SW 19 at HY424203, was trapezoidal (1.12m long by 0.92m and 0.76m) and aligned NNE/SSW. I think it may have been re-used, or have been constructed from re-used materials, as the difference between side and end stones has had to be made up with thin slabs. In any case the only contents are said to have been an even layer of clay and water had been seeping in for some time - would we have done any better nowadays ??
Between the old manse and the graveyard I saw that my next target, the Knowe of Dishero/o [aka Discrow 'mound enclosure], has a new fence around it and no easy access evident. On the 1st 25" O.S. several slopes are shown. On the map the site aligns NE/SW, with at the eastern side a rectilinear half (having a sub-rectangular pit [or perhaps stone] at right angles to the longer side half-way along), at the western side an arc of the same length, and at the northern side two arcs of almost similar sizes (the west one less curved) with a gap between them due north. The RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY41NW 6 describes a broch tower of internal diameter nearly 30' [POAS says 22'] having a 19'6" long section of inner wall-face visible on the west side to a height of some 4'6" with an opening of over 2'6" blocked up in modern times. Inside the east ditch it mentions faint traces of the outer broch wall. According to the POAS there may be a doorway on the SE side. Due west of the broch, up the hill, an underground structure with 5' thick walls lies under the North Ettit houses - a "small ancient quern" came from here sometime before 1927 and it is believed the site might be another broch (HY41NW 4 at HY42051996, slight rise where tusks found in kitchen midden).
Determined to find some way in I decided to see what might pass at the graveyard. So I continued along the tourist track as the farmroad became a farmtrack. Coming towards the burial ground, which sits between the farmtrack and the clifftop, the South A/Ettit Kirk remains (HY41NW 7 at HY42451976) pointing towards me are the parts of 3' thick walls from the remaining east gable and north wall - when another batch of rain passed by this angle proved an adequate shelter as I pressed my back to it. A date of 1732 has been derived from a stone stuck in the later graveyard's gate pillars, and when the graveyard was renovated about the fin-de-siecle old tombstones were unearthed. Perhaps these include the hogback supposed to have been here. I think in 1732 this was a greenfield site as the ground does not have the feel of an Overbrough or even the grounds of the Holm parish church. The kirk may have been dedicated to St.Laurence and had been re-thatched yearly until its last use for worship in 1794 when deterioration led to its abandonment - the walls fell down one Sunday around 1800. Now even the old kirk's interior has been taken up by burials. The devil's-gate here has three steps that come out a long way from the wall on both sides and two vertical slabs either side coming up from the level of the second step and a rectangular gap starting two courses (or is it one thick stone) above the third then ending level with the wall top. This is on the LH side of the 'modern' gate, which is formed by two large square drystone pillars. The seaward wall runs right at the very end of the clifftop - I had hoped to reach the Knowe of Dishero broch between here and the old manse from here somehow. The tradition is that devil's-gates were made as a way of thwarting the devil's attempts to follow the coffin, but I know of at least one that is nearly half-a-mile from any church site and I believe they date instead from the turn of the 19thC at most (probably associated with the Agricultural Improvements then).
Foiled again as the graveyard wall runs right along the clifftop edge and there's literally no getting over it. So I retraced my steps to an open field and approached the broch on a long diagonal. Coming from the end facing the kiryard I was just able to make out one big broad stone about halfway up that looks to be in a depression that I think lies just outside the broch tower. On the side facing the old manse is a broad ditch that seems quite deep and heads for the cliff-edge. It is from this direction I made out the various levels i.e. the ditch, the outer broch, and the broch tower [possibly a fourth can be made out]. From here through the clifftop undergrowth you can see what looks to be a mix betwen a sea-wall and a structure back against the cliff, age unknown. So I took my photos and video from within the field. If I had had longer (and it had been a weekday) I could have crawled under as the grass wasnae too damp. Did not want to miss a bus.
Followed the Gorseness Road round the hill. Then where the road goes down again the mysterious site of Wass Wick lies against the shore. Nothing can be made out of the place despite this being thought another likely broch site. HY42SW 10 at HY41202198 is yet another triangular site. The POAS mention of several stones protruding out of a grassy mound (about 40 yds square and rising 6 ft high at the south and 9 ft on the north side and some forty yards 'square') is backed up by the crofter a couple of decades later telling the Commission there were many building traces scattered over it. It still holds on to its uncultivated state (very rough country) and has not been dug into in modern times. The 1st O.S. and even aerial views from 192.com are no use at all - a strong case for geofizz methinks.
I am sure that somewhere over this side of the hill I have been on the bus when it has made a detour, but even if that had been official it doesn't always and I didn't fancy becoming lost up there trying to jog my memory. Eventually reached Tingwall without sighting the bus I had been hoping for, so it must have taken the strait route along the main road. A couple of hours until the next bus so I decided to walk towards Finstown in hope of catching a ride on. Still light enough to snap a few shots of Tingwall. There are actually two thing-volls here, the major one and another 250 links east of this and five chains SW (go figure). Thought it must be brighter than I thought, but turned out to be the workings of the electronic viewfinder.
Went all the way in the dark. Anytime I heard a vehicle coming I either crossed the road jumped onto the verge or pressed myself hard against the edge. Oh fun and games. Heard and occasionally saw large flocks of geese take flight with a whoosh and a cackle at my approach. Eventually had Finstown in my sights. For some time Baalit had been putting on a fine show with a large bright halo around the moon. This side of the bridge its diameter encompassed almost the whole of Finstown right out to the edges. In town a police car stopped and explained there had been several people calling in concerned about my safety. Forgot my jacket wasn't its predecessor with the orange stripes, nothing to see. Strange no-one of these guid folk had thought to offer me a lift or simply warn me (at one point a big rig had approached me on the opposite side of the road, the type with masses of lights including above the cab, flashed them all on as he came up then switched the blinders off again a he passed me - definitely unfriendly). Told them I was going on the next bus. The other side of Finstown a hurry up to the shelter had me there just seconds ahead of the main bus (the next from Tingwall not due quite yet).
Labels: Damsay, Ha' cist, Holm of Rendall, Knowe of Discrow, Knowe of Dishero, North Ettit, Rendall Doocot, South Aettit Kirk, South Aittit Kirk, South Ettit Kirk, Tammaskirk, Tingwall, Wass Wick
Friday, December 24, 2010
From Finstown go to Rendall and take the Gorseness Road (marked for the Rendall Doocot) until you see the sign for the dovecote. This takes you down to the Hall of Rendall. Looking across seaward the three NMRS comprising the site are the church HY42SW 11 at the LH side (HY42492102), the broch [IA settlement leastways] to the right HY42SW 12 (HY42502097), and behind these HY42SW 34 which includes these but mostly the cemetery (HY42622099). I imagine that this must once have been of comparable size to Wass Wick to the north, also a triangular coastal site. St Thomas Kirk itself was excavated by Clouston in 1931, when he found it comprised a 23x14' nave and 14x9'6" chancel - measurements internal, the partialy exposed footings were some 3'-4'6" thick. He suggested a 12thC date but two different construction phases (his trenches and spoil heaps remain for future generations). In addition it is now thought that there was an earlier ecclesiastical presence in this area too. He held the chancel to be reinforced in order to support a short tower whilst later authorities opine this had been for a vaulted ceiling - myself I think the former to accord more with the vernacular ecclesiastical practice of that time. At some time the east gable remains became the west end of an unroofed hut-like structure likened by him to "a kind of inland projection" from the wall skirting the beach. A later resistivity survey indicates the S side of the kirkyard boundary some ten yards from the footings then coming back round to the north wall of the nave. This backs up Clouston, who noted wall traces at the east end of the kirk's south side and a 2'9" thich wall striking out due west from the kirk's NW corner then making a bend before ending where it has been robbed of stone. In 1983 the kirk remains are said to be on the cliff-edge with entry to the kirkyard by what is known as a devil's-gate, a stone style built into a drystone wall [I assume he isn't thinking of the 1837 chapel of South Ettit on the other side of the manse regarding that]. My photos taken on the road down show a long wall (the distance between seven fenceposts at least) by the far end of the site and probably at the cliff edge, beyond the fieldwall and rather higher than it, that is two unresolved walls of said 'hut'. Drilling down for an aerial view on 192.com shows the 'hut' at the very tip of the north end of a complex arrangement of walls.
Unfortunately I only had shoes on, not welligogs, and the open gateway that invited me over that direction was obstructed by a broad area of muddy puddles behind. After visiting the dovecote (renovated about twenty years ago) I tried where the [?mill]stream goes to shore, but the waters were too deep to cross. So I continued along the tourist track along the shore road and along where the farmroad becomes a farmtrack. Coming towards the burial ground between the farmtrack and the sea the South (A)Ettit Kirk remains (HY41NW 7 at HY42451976) pointing towards me are the parts of 3' thick walls from the remaining east gable and north wall. A date of 1732 has been derived from a stone stuck in the later graveyard's gate pillars, and when the graveyard was renovated about the fin-de-siecle old tombstones were unearthed. Perhaps these include the hogback supposed to have been here. The kirk may have been dedicated to St.Laurence and had been re-thatched yearly until its last use for worship in 1794 when deterioration led to its abandonment - the walls fell down one Sunday around 1800. Now even the old kirk's interior has been taken up by burials. The devil's-gate here has three steps that come out a long way from the wall on both sides and two vertical slabs either side coming up from the level of the second step and a rectangular gap starting two courses (or is it one thick stone) above the third then ending level with the wall top. This is on the LH side of the 'modern' gate, which is formed by two large square drystone pillars. The seaward wall runs right at the very end of the clifftop - I had hoped to reach the Knowe of Dishero broch between here and the old manse from here somehow.
Past Woodwick and past the road for the Broch of Gurness a road runs from Dale to the beach. Follow the road down and the 1:25,000 shows a short track leading off to a cemetery. This is actually another chapel site. St.Nicholas Chapel, HY32NE 8 at HY37132623, used to be the Evie parish church. Jo Ben in about 1590 refers to the place being lit up at night as if by torches or candle-light. Like South Aettit this kirk had an annual re-thatching. Deserted in 1788, after which the walls collapsed. All that appears now to mark it is a slight swelling, though sometimes in the rare occasions graves are dug the footings are found. The devil's-gate is almost identical to that at South Aettit, three long slabs stick out either side of the cemetery wall. But here they are by the corner before that with the 'modern' gate and it lacks the vertical slabs. Also the rectangular gap is simply a slot. The gatepillars are of the same design, the wooden gates low and in a poor state. From the far pillar a rather scrappy wall extends out with an assortment of stones against it. It Peters out rather than coming to a stop, almost as if this had been a kirkyard wall and the cemetery now starts where the old kirkyard ended... That'll be just my fancy then.
When I eventually found myself on the Howe Harper cairn near Binscarth outside Finstown afterwards I headed for the track round the Loch of Wasdale taking a steep descent into a deep corner at the NW edge of the field, a wall taller than the average fieldwall (so nothing can be seen from the path through Wasdale) position HY3445314438 I found myself using a stone stile to get into the next field. I remember that it was very well built but not if it is what I now know as a a devil's gate. If it is one it is some distance away from the kirk on the islet. The kirk started off as an Iron Age settlement, possibly even a crannog. This year over at the north end where sits traditional site of the associated burial ground whilst battling strong winds a strong overhead sun revealed small stones assembled into circular shapes on the bed of the lochan. These could well be hut-circles or a Bronze Age settlement, though a comparison with fish traps of vegetation in the Loch of Bosquoy has been made by the Harray Potter.
A much less substantial stone stile can be seen in the wall (HY433108 near the spring) that seperates the Muddisdale track (where it heads up to the Sunnybank road) from the Kirkwall golfcourse. But you really have to look carefully to spot it. Of course the wall is lower than other places I have mentioned, so it would have been easier to pass a coffin over. Still more likely to be used by farmers. There used to be a chapel but again it was some distance from the stile. The position of St.Duthac's Chapel, HY41SW 20, is given as approximately HY442110 (where the Pickaquoy Centre grounds replace a quarry) but I found a piece of (?red) moulding at about HY44121124 as I climbed over a fence adjoining Peerie Sea Loan, which is the other side of the burnt mound from the Pickaquoy centre. Unfortunately I couldn't find it on my next visit - either lost to the grass or taken by someone else with an interest. The church is said to share a dedication with Kirk Du (HY41SE 12 at HY47951171) across the bay but that is a bad guess - the name construction is arsa-versa and it is more obviously the Church of the Dove, dedicated to the Holy Ghost (or possibly Mary). The chapel must still have been visible around the time that the Pickaquoy burnt mound was excavated as the antiquarians said it was built with stones from the latter. Obviously the area was holy even further back as the two rock art panels found in the dig must mean either that the burnt mound was built into a tomb/cairn or came from one [logically further up the hill like Wideford and Cuween]. On the 1st O.S. maps St.Duthac's Chapel is not shown even though it does show the findspot of a stone cist found in 1853 in the position of the burnt mound.
Unfortunately I only had shoes on, not welligogs, and the open gateway that invited me over that direction was obstructed by a broad area of muddy puddles behind. After visiting the dovecote (renovated about twenty years ago) I tried where the [?mill]stream goes to shore, but the waters were too deep to cross. So I continued along the tourist track along the shore road and along where the farmroad becomes a farmtrack. Coming towards the burial ground between the farmtrack and the sea the South (A)Ettit Kirk remains (HY41NW 7 at HY42451976) pointing towards me are the parts of 3' thick walls from the remaining east gable and north wall. A date of 1732 has been derived from a stone stuck in the later graveyard's gate pillars, and when the graveyard was renovated about the fin-de-siecle old tombstones were unearthed. Perhaps these include the hogback supposed to have been here. The kirk may have been dedicated to St.Laurence and had been re-thatched yearly until its last use for worship in 1794 when deterioration led to its abandonment - the walls fell down one Sunday around 1800. Now even the old kirk's interior has been taken up by burials. The devil's-gate here has three steps that come out a long way from the wall on both sides and two vertical slabs either side coming up from the level of the second step and a rectangular gap starting two courses (or is it one thick stone) above the third then ending level with the wall top. This is on the LH side of the 'modern' gate, which is formed by two large square drystone pillars. The seaward wall runs right at the very end of the clifftop - I had hoped to reach the Knowe of Dishero broch between here and the old manse from here somehow.
Past Woodwick and past the road for the Broch of Gurness a road runs from Dale to the beach. Follow the road down and the 1:25,000 shows a short track leading off to a cemetery. This is actually another chapel site. St.Nicholas Chapel, HY32NE 8 at HY37132623, used to be the Evie parish church. Jo Ben in about 1590 refers to the place being lit up at night as if by torches or candle-light. Like South Aettit this kirk had an annual re-thatching. Deserted in 1788, after which the walls collapsed. All that appears now to mark it is a slight swelling, though sometimes in the rare occasions graves are dug the footings are found. The devil's-gate is almost identical to that at South Aettit, three long slabs stick out either side of the cemetery wall. But here they are by the corner before that with the 'modern' gate and it lacks the vertical slabs. Also the rectangular gap is simply a slot. The gatepillars are of the same design, the wooden gates low and in a poor state. From the far pillar a rather scrappy wall extends out with an assortment of stones against it. It Peters out rather than coming to a stop, almost as if this had been a kirkyard wall and the cemetery now starts where the old kirkyard ended... That'll be just my fancy then.
When I eventually found myself on the Howe Harper cairn near Binscarth outside Finstown afterwards I headed for the track round the Loch of Wasdale taking a steep descent into a deep corner at the NW edge of the field, a wall taller than the average fieldwall (so nothing can be seen from the path through Wasdale) position HY3445314438 I found myself using a stone stile to get into the next field. I remember that it was very well built but not if it is what I now know as a a devil's gate. If it is one it is some distance away from the kirk on the islet. The kirk started off as an Iron Age settlement, possibly even a crannog. This year over at the north end where sits traditional site of the associated burial ground whilst battling strong winds a strong overhead sun revealed small stones assembled into circular shapes on the bed of the lochan. These could well be hut-circles or a Bronze Age settlement, though a comparison with fish traps of vegetation in the Loch of Bosquoy has been made by the Harray Potter.
A much less substantial stone stile can be seen in the wall (HY433108 near the spring) that seperates the Muddisdale track (where it heads up to the Sunnybank road) from the Kirkwall golfcourse. But you really have to look carefully to spot it. Of course the wall is lower than other places I have mentioned, so it would have been easier to pass a coffin over. Still more likely to be used by farmers. There used to be a chapel but again it was some distance from the stile. The position of St.Duthac's Chapel, HY41SW 20, is given as approximately HY442110 (where the Pickaquoy Centre grounds replace a quarry) but I found a piece of (?red) moulding at about HY44121124 as I climbed over a fence adjoining Peerie Sea Loan, which is the other side of the burnt mound from the Pickaquoy centre. Unfortunately I couldn't find it on my next visit - either lost to the grass or taken by someone else with an interest. The church is said to share a dedication with Kirk Du (HY41SE 12 at HY47951171) across the bay but that is a bad guess - the name construction is arsa-versa and it is more obviously the Church of the Dove, dedicated to the Holy Ghost (or possibly Mary). The chapel must still have been visible around the time that the Pickaquoy burnt mound was excavated as the antiquarians said it was built with stones from the latter. Obviously the area was holy even further back as the two rock art panels found in the dig must mean either that the burnt mound was built into a tomb/cairn or came from one [logically further up the hill like Wideford and Cuween]. On the 1st O.S. maps St.Duthac's Chapel is not shown even though it does show the findspot of a stone cist found in 1853 in the position of the burnt mound.
Labels: devil's gate, Kirk Do, South Ettit Kirk, St Duthac Chapel, St Nicholas Chapel, Tamaskirk
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
STROMNESS TO INNERTOWN November 6th 2010
Took the bus to Stromness with set itinerary. Went as far as Stromness Library then struck up the hill by the Braes Hotel, my old haunt when I lived at Garson with the archaeologists. On the right hand side there is a cupboard sized niche in the wall beside the road by St.Peter's House. Struck me as strange, but perhaps there used to be a postbox here. Coming up to the Outertown road junction below the road is a craggy place like an everted quarry. I notice at the part near where Sorpool is now what I take to be an old broad path heading northwards from a low point but fading before reaching the next modern road, possibly built up across this, though I think it would have continued in front of Castle.. At the big house I took the left-hand fork that passes Dale as a change from the right road to the Haley Hole well, the Brownstown road I think its given name. At the high point where a road goes down to Warebeth instead of going down I decided to see how far to Outertown I felt like going.
Going over the top of the hill on my left I noticed a drain going down the north side of a house's boundary wall. It's not unusual for a roadside ditch to be in this position. But this is going away from the road under an old-fashioned drywall culvert, and peering under I could see disturbed stones. The boundary wall at the mouth is curved, which is usualy a sign of being Early Mediaeval (in Orkney a.k.a. Late Viking). Once past Dale Farm and approaching some modern houses I could see a ginger cat by the road. Not sure if this pusser was a small adult or a large kitten. The tail must have been in some sort of accident, only a few inches long but not docked and rather stiff. As the cat looked lonely I felt called upon to offer comfort (no hardship involved). After a time it is necessary to break contact to avoid attachment. Plodding along ignoring the cat and yet still followed even as I turned east again in the direction of Leafea. At the top of the small stretch of road turned north again as I thought about going over Brunt Hill via the reservoir or mayhap to Breckness.
Then a long way ahead of me I could see large heavy rainclouds approaching at a crawl and so turned back. Coming down the small stretch once more I saw that the gate of the field heading towards the Breckan mound lay open and followed My Lady's
prompting. First I followed the path, being refurbished by the farmer for his use presently, shown on the 1:25,000 until I could head for the Leafea standing stone pair. Nowadays a barbwire fence seperates them but the 1st 25" map shows the field border looping around the south of them about twice their area, like a toecap with them in the top of the left half - too big an avoidance to owe its existence to the stones alone and there is a local report of human remains being found here [some say dog bones instead, though I cannot find that reference]. Perhaps they were the final blocking stones for the portal of some long lost tomb. But much more likely is that these mark an underground site, whether still present or lost. Previously I had taken pictures of these stones looking east from the 'drain' to the north and had seen a small rectangular boulder a yard or so to the north and this time by the fence saw a few small loose ones lying flat as well as another rectangular block against the west end of the eastern standing stone. I imagine that these are the granite stones mentioned as not belonging here. What struck me most was the site of the corner of a rectangular slab/block projecting from the ground at a shallow angle a matter of inches from the western stone just slightly off axis. From where I stood what look to be a group of stones between the pair are the small block against the eastern stone, the projecting stone corner [orthostat or ?block] and then the very top of thin orthostat to thats left (the last reminding me a little of the circular grassy are at the head of work). Perhaps these constitute the remains of a cist from (?above) which the bones came [and were perhaps re-interred]. Finally, finally, I struck off for the nearest point of the field to the Breckan mound to see if I could gain access, taking pictures as I went owing to the oncoming shower. Unfortunately there is no gate along this edge of the field, though there is a lovely culvert/bridge across the N/S 'drain'. This site was investigated when the local naturalists still considered archaeology within their sphere. Following the excavation the mound is considered to be domestic. There agreement ends as though the excavator considered it to be similar to the Hawill burnt mound (Bronze Age) later opinion considers it either like a small scale Skara Brae (Neolithic) or a secondary broch settlement (Iron Age). It is certainly rum in the plan, two chambers side-by-side with a rectangular stone slab enclosure in front of them whose stones are the ones I can seeI think. Looking at the Breckan mound on the map a spring is shown adjacent and a well to the east. To show how things change, on the 1st 25" map the former doesn't exist and the well is a spring. A short fence runs below the well. From its east end a fence runs up to the road. The 1880 survey and RCAHMS record no. HY20NW 3 show this as the location of the Innertown long cist, just north of a field boundary. Its discovery came about through digging a boundary ditch between the farmlands of Wester Leafea and King(s)house in a mound of loose sand. As other graves had been found in its neighbourhood previously I am reminded of the Pierowall Vikings. The three skellywegs were put back into the cist and then closed over. Watt's account also mentions the finding of half a polished granite hammerhead a few hundred yards away, which if not from the 'cemetery' could well relate to the Breckan mound and rule out an IA date for this (I have been unable to find a reference for this hammer/mace in any surveys unless it be one of the those whose findspot remains lost like AH119). Or is it no coincidence that non-local granite still remains at the Leafea Stones ?? The heavy shower hit as I reached the 'bridge', fortunately on my back as I went off again.
Back up past Dale and down to the coast. Brennigar on the map is where the manse used to be (Innertown and Outertown not referencing Stromness but Warebeth kirk). As I have mentioned before its farmtrack continues over the road for about the same
distance again, for no apparent reason. Beneath it is a piece under water that appears to be based on something rectangular, like there might have been a 'settlement' there. Nothing appears on the 1882 map but there is always WWII. By the time I reached Warebeth my coat was already dry, thank goodness. After a trip to the loo I followed the path that leads to the 'picnic area' whilst perusing the depression that runs alongside where the remains of an old radar station are, though I had an eye out for older remains. A few nice birdies there didn't want their pictures took. What passes for a good sandy beach in Orkney had a fair number of folk in attendance in spite of the weather. Several went a little north along the cliffs, presumably for the dogs to do their 'business' as I doubt any knew their path took them to the top of the unproductive old Clook lead mine (a.k.a. Burnside). Another possibilty is that in the other direction a small part of the clifftop had collapsed where it ran in front of the graveyard walls. Navigable with care anyhow.
Went into the graveyard to take photos of the old chapel. On the 1882 map only the long wall is labelled chapel (no mention of the [ha] "gable end"). This has the monumentality of a micro Wailing Wall with nothing to show it has ever done anything but stand solitary. It is nearly three times the width of the wall remaining against the graveyard edge to its west and it is difficult to imagine what it could have been part of (and why it survived) or how large this chapel must have been if all else had been proportional. Several incomplete gravestone slabs sit against its north side, then along from them at the by the east end is a large section of (?sub-)hexagonal moulding almost completely covered in white lichen - the wall itself has virtually none. The supposed gable end stands a course or so higher apart from a lower bit of wall that has been used to close the gap with the more mode graveyard wall. On its south side a niche occupying roughly half the 'length' runs from a few courses above ground level and is open-ended, slightly narrower at the bottom where there is an 18thC mural tablet with skull and crossbones. Probably of the same date are other carved stones placed above the tablet as these include classical capitals. I am not totally convinced these are of the same date as the wall despite the close fit of that tablet, and in front of the wall sitting on the ground are three plainer capitals that look earlier to me. In a photo I see against one is a triangular piece of stone with 34 in arabic numerals, not Roman, so perhaps later instead [i.e. 1834], though 1634 would place things at a time of much building in Orkney. Rather than a tomb I see this wall as the commemorated remains of a shrine to the legendary founder. Perhaps he is buried, or thought to be, under the bump outside the
graveyard at this spot. On the other hand this small bump could be broch age like the broader bump further north surely is.
After the graveyard there is a way down to the shore and again I went in bare hopes of seeing something of the broch revealed by erosion. The small stone passage I have noticed before appears on the 1882 map, and even there I can see nothing to say why it is there. There is a layer of stones under the turf both sides of this way down, the kirkyard side and opposite, but it is difficult to make a case for this being much. However the kirkyard side ends in a very suspicious curve. Looking back up you can see a manufactured slope heading up to the south which must be an old slipway like that near Breckness - there there is offshore the legend The Noust and here rocks labelled Noust of Netherton and additionally the remains of the naust itself up on the cliff. Near the end of the road to Croval and Stromness three large thick slabs across the seaward half of the path cover where the water runs out beneath. At the bottom of the field directly opposite you can make out some of the 'drain'. Peering over the wall I saw a small pool with a corner of slabs a few courses high, north and east walls a slab's length each with water coming under the east side. Not far away is a new stone seat up which I clambered gingerly for a better look and was disappointed to see the water issuing from a modern pipe. I assume the drystane walls are what is left of the old well/wellspring as the second wall serves no purpose now. Further along the coast road loops round a patch of humpy grassland but a sort of track goes clean through. From this I watched a heron down in the shore in the gathering dark. Hesitantly I walked to the cliff edge and managed a video clip with my digital camera. I did try to do more but couldn't get a focus on it bar that once. When I thought me of my proper digicam by the time I looked up again the bird had flown and left The Ness locale entirely.
Took the bus to Stromness with set itinerary. Went as far as Stromness Library then struck up the hill by the Braes Hotel, my old haunt when I lived at Garson with the archaeologists. On the right hand side there is a cupboard sized niche in the wall beside the road by St.Peter's House. Struck me as strange, but perhaps there used to be a postbox here. Coming up to the Outertown road junction below the road is a craggy place like an everted quarry. I notice at the part near where Sorpool is now what I take to be an old broad path heading northwards from a low point but fading before reaching the next modern road, possibly built up across this, though I think it would have continued in front of Castle.. At the big house I took the left-hand fork that passes Dale as a change from the right road to the Haley Hole well, the Brownstown road I think its given name. At the high point where a road goes down to Warebeth instead of going down I decided to see how far to Outertown I felt like going.
Going over the top of the hill on my left I noticed a drain going down the north side of a house's boundary wall. It's not unusual for a roadside ditch to be in this position. But this is going away from the road under an old-fashioned drywall culvert, and peering under I could see disturbed stones. The boundary wall at the mouth is curved, which is usualy a sign of being Early Mediaeval (in Orkney a.k.a. Late Viking). Once past Dale Farm and approaching some modern houses I could see a ginger cat by the road. Not sure if this pusser was a small adult or a large kitten. The tail must have been in some sort of accident, only a few inches long but not docked and rather stiff. As the cat looked lonely I felt called upon to offer comfort (no hardship involved). After a time it is necessary to break contact to avoid attachment. Plodding along ignoring the cat and yet still followed even as I turned east again in the direction of Leafea. At the top of the small stretch of road turned north again as I thought about going over Brunt Hill via the reservoir or mayhap to Breckness.
Then a long way ahead of me I could see large heavy rainclouds approaching at a crawl and so turned back. Coming down the small stretch once more I saw that the gate of the field heading towards the Breckan mound lay open and followed My Lady's
prompting. First I followed the path, being refurbished by the farmer for his use presently, shown on the 1:25,000 until I could head for the Leafea standing stone pair. Nowadays a barbwire fence seperates them but the 1st 25" map shows the field border looping around the south of them about twice their area, like a toecap with them in the top of the left half - too big an avoidance to owe its existence to the stones alone and there is a local report of human remains being found here [some say dog bones instead, though I cannot find that reference]. Perhaps they were the final blocking stones for the portal of some long lost tomb. But much more likely is that these mark an underground site, whether still present or lost. Previously I had taken pictures of these stones looking east from the 'drain' to the north and had seen a small rectangular boulder a yard or so to the north and this time by the fence saw a few small loose ones lying flat as well as another rectangular block against the west end of the eastern standing stone. I imagine that these are the granite stones mentioned as not belonging here. What struck me most was the site of the corner of a rectangular slab/block projecting from the ground at a shallow angle a matter of inches from the western stone just slightly off axis. From where I stood what look to be a group of stones between the pair are the small block against the eastern stone, the projecting stone corner [orthostat or ?block] and then the very top of thin orthostat to thats left (the last reminding me a little of the circular grassy are at the head of work). Perhaps these constitute the remains of a cist from (?above) which the bones came [and were perhaps re-interred]. Finally, finally, I struck off for the nearest point of the field to the Breckan mound to see if I could gain access, taking pictures as I went owing to the oncoming shower. Unfortunately there is no gate along this edge of the field, though there is a lovely culvert/bridge across the N/S 'drain'. This site was investigated when the local naturalists still considered archaeology within their sphere. Following the excavation the mound is considered to be domestic. There agreement ends as though the excavator considered it to be similar to the Hawill burnt mound (Bronze Age) later opinion considers it either like a small scale Skara Brae (Neolithic) or a secondary broch settlement (Iron Age). It is certainly rum in the plan, two chambers side-by-side with a rectangular stone slab enclosure in front of them whose stones are the ones I can seeI think. Looking at the Breckan mound on the map a spring is shown adjacent and a well to the east. To show how things change, on the 1st 25" map the former doesn't exist and the well is a spring. A short fence runs below the well. From its east end a fence runs up to the road. The 1880 survey and RCAHMS record no. HY20NW 3 show this as the location of the Innertown long cist, just north of a field boundary. Its discovery came about through digging a boundary ditch between the farmlands of Wester Leafea and King(s)house in a mound of loose sand. As other graves had been found in its neighbourhood previously I am reminded of the Pierowall Vikings. The three skellywegs were put back into the cist and then closed over. Watt's account also mentions the finding of half a polished granite hammerhead a few hundred yards away, which if not from the 'cemetery' could well relate to the Breckan mound and rule out an IA date for this (I have been unable to find a reference for this hammer/mace in any surveys unless it be one of the those whose findspot remains lost like AH119). Or is it no coincidence that non-local granite still remains at the Leafea Stones ?? The heavy shower hit as I reached the 'bridge', fortunately on my back as I went off again.
Back up past Dale and down to the coast. Brennigar on the map is where the manse used to be (Innertown and Outertown not referencing Stromness but Warebeth kirk). As I have mentioned before its farmtrack continues over the road for about the same
distance again, for no apparent reason. Beneath it is a piece under water that appears to be based on something rectangular, like there might have been a 'settlement' there. Nothing appears on the 1882 map but there is always WWII. By the time I reached Warebeth my coat was already dry, thank goodness. After a trip to the loo I followed the path that leads to the 'picnic area' whilst perusing the depression that runs alongside where the remains of an old radar station are, though I had an eye out for older remains. A few nice birdies there didn't want their pictures took. What passes for a good sandy beach in Orkney had a fair number of folk in attendance in spite of the weather. Several went a little north along the cliffs, presumably for the dogs to do their 'business' as I doubt any knew their path took them to the top of the unproductive old Clook lead mine (a.k.a. Burnside). Another possibilty is that in the other direction a small part of the clifftop had collapsed where it ran in front of the graveyard walls. Navigable with care anyhow.
Went into the graveyard to take photos of the old chapel. On the 1882 map only the long wall is labelled chapel (no mention of the [ha] "gable end"). This has the monumentality of a micro Wailing Wall with nothing to show it has ever done anything but stand solitary. It is nearly three times the width of the wall remaining against the graveyard edge to its west and it is difficult to imagine what it could have been part of (and why it survived) or how large this chapel must have been if all else had been proportional. Several incomplete gravestone slabs sit against its north side, then along from them at the by the east end is a large section of (?sub-)hexagonal moulding almost completely covered in white lichen - the wall itself has virtually none. The supposed gable end stands a course or so higher apart from a lower bit of wall that has been used to close the gap with the more mode graveyard wall. On its south side a niche occupying roughly half the 'length' runs from a few courses above ground level and is open-ended, slightly narrower at the bottom where there is an 18thC mural tablet with skull and crossbones. Probably of the same date are other carved stones placed above the tablet as these include classical capitals. I am not totally convinced these are of the same date as the wall despite the close fit of that tablet, and in front of the wall sitting on the ground are three plainer capitals that look earlier to me. In a photo I see against one is a triangular piece of stone with 34 in arabic numerals, not Roman, so perhaps later instead [i.e. 1834], though 1634 would place things at a time of much building in Orkney. Rather than a tomb I see this wall as the commemorated remains of a shrine to the legendary founder. Perhaps he is buried, or thought to be, under the bump outside the
graveyard at this spot. On the other hand this small bump could be broch age like the broader bump further north surely is.
After the graveyard there is a way down to the shore and again I went in bare hopes of seeing something of the broch revealed by erosion. The small stone passage I have noticed before appears on the 1882 map, and even there I can see nothing to say why it is there. There is a layer of stones under the turf both sides of this way down, the kirkyard side and opposite, but it is difficult to make a case for this being much. However the kirkyard side ends in a very suspicious curve. Looking back up you can see a manufactured slope heading up to the south which must be an old slipway like that near Breckness - there there is offshore the legend The Noust and here rocks labelled Noust of Netherton and additionally the remains of the naust itself up on the cliff. Near the end of the road to Croval and Stromness three large thick slabs across the seaward half of the path cover where the water runs out beneath. At the bottom of the field directly opposite you can make out some of the 'drain'. Peering over the wall I saw a small pool with a corner of slabs a few courses high, north and east walls a slab's length each with water coming under the east side. Not far away is a new stone seat up which I clambered gingerly for a better look and was disappointed to see the water issuing from a modern pipe. I assume the drystane walls are what is left of the old well/wellspring as the second wall serves no purpose now. Further along the coast road loops round a patch of humpy grassland but a sort of track goes clean through. From this I watched a heron down in the shore in the gathering dark. Hesitantly I walked to the cliff edge and managed a video clip with my digital camera. I did try to do more but couldn't get a focus on it bar that once. When I thought me of my proper digicam by the time I looked up again the bird had flown and left The Ness locale entirely.
Labels: Breckan, Brennigar, Brockan, Clook lead mine, Innertown cist, Leafea, Warebeth
Sunday, December 05, 2010
HOY POLLOI December 2nd 2010
Doing my first volunteering since NoSAS so hardly slept, visions of making a start and then me having to abandon the work with hours until the boat back. Using the last of the OIC's transport timetables Hoy in the index only took me to the main route. Eventually found it down as Graemsay and North Hoy. Getting up at six, which is stil better than when I cleaned at the Coop, to be picked up with another volunteer opposite the cathedral by the Shapinsay warden at seven (couldn't find what boat he came on as even the Orkney Ferries website didn't list anything that early !).
Nice to be out in the stars again. Not even twilght yet. Behind Whyteford a faint sliver of crescent moon relaxed with her back to a brilliant Jupiter. Unfortunately we were stuck behind a blue car being well slow at a constant thirty, where even in this weather a peedie bit more would have been safe. Coming towards Stenness twilight edged forward as time to reach the 7:45 ferry faded away. Set the car below the RSPB's place as there as Paul knew there was no real parking to be had closer to the harbour. So a quick belt to the pier over slippery pavements and heaped snowy 'verges'. Only a few minutes over time, breathless and throat feeling funny, then the boat slipped back a few metres for Fiona to get on board. The RSPB staff and volunteers were the only passengers. At the other end the ferry wasn't quite so tight to the harbour wall. The other folk were content to step down with a crew member's assistant, but though it was only a matter of inches I wouldn't absolutely trust my legs [I don't a-light so much as flump] and so found a step a few inches up and hauled myself onto that instead using the rail alone.
After getting into the RSPB's transport our first port of call was the Hoy warden to pick up gear, then off to the White Glen Plantation - approx.HY244017. The hillside above (Haist) is amazingly steep and the one opposite (? Lang Fea) less so. Whiee Glen slides between the two, taking the road with it fo a vanishing point further along. Plantation makes me think of a forestry grid. This had been more higgledy-piggledy and in the process of being stripped of Sitka Spruce had become dodgy terrain. Walking over the heath I never felt certain whether my next step would be the base of the heather or the tops. On top of this was a near-lattice of tree branches and brush, the whole often hidden by anything from one to six inches of snow. I was delighted to find that even though my Lidl bought workshoes had a higher lip than even my catalogue walking shoes they actually felt a lot more comfortable. A few small steps cut out of a steep roadside bank took us onto the plantation.
From here, after the other Kirkwall volunteer had lit the necessary fires, we split up into smaller groups. Our task was to take out the non-native trees, make logs of the bigger sections (to become piles for insects and other wee beasties) and burn the rest apart from some brushwood. I went with Alan Leitch, the Orkney Warden, and another volunteer [I am rubbish at people's names]. Because of Health & Safety we kept out of the way while the warden took a chainsaw to the trees. He was thankful that he had a new chain rather than a blunt one like the others, but it did seem that his trees were the most difficult. Often he looked to have cut all the way through or made extra notches and still the beggars wouldn't fall. There was a partly fallen one held up by a smaller upright one, with a felled one six inches thick running down beside the base of both. Theory held that if the half-fallen one came down it would bring down the other with it. Perversely after a good deal of sawing the pair fell as a unit back over the felled tree !!
A dark wren came clockwise around us, resting in various piles and coming within two or three metres of me quite unconcerned. It might even have stayed for a photographic opportunity if I had my camera with me. Unfortunately even ultrazoom digitals only seem to come with wrist-straps, and my Casio's never stayed attached. With my SLR it would be slung round my neck ready for action even if under claes in this kind of weather, but digital cameras like to believe cold batteries are dead however much you curse under your breath and you need huge pockets for them. Anyway my bag was up the way. At one time I could hear high solitary notes from some mystery bird, the tease. Then I saw the bird itself flying downslope to tree, smaller than a wren it looked but tail no quite enough for a long-tailed tit. Alan enlightened me to its identity as a goldcrest. Later the bird flew back upslope to the north and another goldcrest crossed its path going down the way ! Another or the same wren quarter-circled us later, much lighter than the previous sighting but maybe the fitful sun had summat to do wi' that. A beauty of a jenny bringing thoughts of her time, Yuletide. On a few occasions woodcock and jack snipe were pointed out to me flying along the glen downhill. Must be an excellent birder to tell jack snipe from snipe at distance, I remember going by the supposedly distinctive movements to identify a jack snipe only for the previous bird recorder to identify a snipe from my photo. It is very hard to spot either bird and almost every time the first you know is their calls as they shoot off from literally just by your side. Did video one once though. Strange the way birds break cover when you wouldn't have seen them otherwise, even wierder the many species that choose to take a flight path straight in front of you - surely if I were a predator you would choose a direction opposite to the one I'm headed ?
Once I had settled on using work gloves instead of my warm ones the work was easy. Helps to be based around a roaring fire of course. At the second tree group we essayed I slowly realised that rather than trawling the odd one- or two-at-a-time back over obstacles it made more sense to dredge them up to the obstacle and then pass them over it into another pile for the other lad to move on or me to get when all had been piled up. Lovely crackling sounds as those branches with needles hit the fire. One tree I enjoyed picking up the branches against my arm and heaving them up by one end. As I dumped them on they all went with a whoosh, accelerated by al that sap I guess, and the remains went in no time. Unfortunately the next tree contrived to drop its end over the fire and Alan had to speed up.
There was a short break in the morning where we gathered together. Most folk had a beverage but though I had brought a drink this was only for an 'emergency' - I can hold off having a poop for hours (even if I need one to begin with) but nothing like that with fluids. I didn't really need the break for lunch, the break from work only cooling my hands down and slowing me. Of course if this had been late spring or summer I could have pottered off for a walk - Raymond Lamb found several archaeological sites in the region of the Whaness Burn and one is on hillside above the plantation, which sounds incredible. Back to work and my feet became increasingly adept at finding the holes in the ground surface. Moved some of the more slender long logs but arms not long enought for me to play with the short chunks . Didn't trust my back but still felt bad watching the other volunteer dealing with them. Came the time to bank the fire and that was mostly him too as I couldn't seem to do it right even using the same amounts of snow. A couple of times my feet sunk in amongst the heather and I spent what felt like ages reeling like a marionette to regain my balance. Finally Alan and the volunteer cast big loads of snow onto the centre of the fire as doing the edges wasn't doing so well.
Finished up about half-three and went to the warden's to wait out the 4:30 ferry back. Fiona donated a moist home-baked cake and muffins which soon went. Several folk were dubious about going to Hoy the next day so I let them know I would be absent.Parts around the ferry waiting room were like sheet ice. The state of tide made getting on board easy now. At Stromness at road level as we got off I saw a new covering of snow thin over ice so took care. The rest of the road, thankfully, was in almost the ame state as this morning. A stop-and-start race for Alan's car again, bag swinging in each hand, short of breath with a grungy throat once more. Would you credit it, we had that same small blue car in front of us again at what felt like a crawl. And again time ran short for Alan's boat back to Shapinsay. Fortunately the man beside him managed to ring the numbers for them to be informed that Alan would be a few minutes late. And that blue car followed us in. Surprisingly the driver proved to be a young chap, who made a dash for the waiting-room, presumably for the loo as this was the last ferry going now. I can only think that he has been 'done' for a driving offence and so is being a mite over-careful as a precaution.
Fortunately Cummins and Spence still open and I could get taties and so have my fish and chips a day early - the complexity of grilling bacon and tomatoes whilst boiling taties way beyond my energy levels now. Should have bought "The Orcadian" too, but didn't even feel up to stuffing that in my bag if I did. The next day it took a minute for the alarm to wake me at the time I would have been getting up to go to Hoy again. Aching sides, painful right foot and crick in the neck highlights of the 'afters' from Hoy. It wasn't the work that did for me but the terrain negotiated. After several hours and a Diclofenac my postre finally erect enough to go to the shops for my message. E-maile Lorna that though Hoy had defeated me as far as continual working on that land went I would still be up for the next task that came up otherwise.
Doing my first volunteering since NoSAS so hardly slept, visions of making a start and then me having to abandon the work with hours until the boat back. Using the last of the OIC's transport timetables Hoy in the index only took me to the main route. Eventually found it down as Graemsay and North Hoy. Getting up at six, which is stil better than when I cleaned at the Coop, to be picked up with another volunteer opposite the cathedral by the Shapinsay warden at seven (couldn't find what boat he came on as even the Orkney Ferries website didn't list anything that early !).
Nice to be out in the stars again. Not even twilght yet. Behind Whyteford a faint sliver of crescent moon relaxed with her back to a brilliant Jupiter. Unfortunately we were stuck behind a blue car being well slow at a constant thirty, where even in this weather a peedie bit more would have been safe. Coming towards Stenness twilight edged forward as time to reach the 7:45 ferry faded away. Set the car below the RSPB's place as there as Paul knew there was no real parking to be had closer to the harbour. So a quick belt to the pier over slippery pavements and heaped snowy 'verges'. Only a few minutes over time, breathless and throat feeling funny, then the boat slipped back a few metres for Fiona to get on board. The RSPB staff and volunteers were the only passengers. At the other end the ferry wasn't quite so tight to the harbour wall. The other folk were content to step down with a crew member's assistant, but though it was only a matter of inches I wouldn't absolutely trust my legs [I don't a-light so much as flump] and so found a step a few inches up and hauled myself onto that instead using the rail alone.
After getting into the RSPB's transport our first port of call was the Hoy warden to pick up gear, then off to the White Glen Plantation - approx.HY244017. The hillside above (Haist) is amazingly steep and the one opposite (? Lang Fea) less so. Whiee Glen slides between the two, taking the road with it fo a vanishing point further along. Plantation makes me think of a forestry grid. This had been more higgledy-piggledy and in the process of being stripped of Sitka Spruce had become dodgy terrain. Walking over the heath I never felt certain whether my next step would be the base of the heather or the tops. On top of this was a near-lattice of tree branches and brush, the whole often hidden by anything from one to six inches of snow. I was delighted to find that even though my Lidl bought workshoes had a higher lip than even my catalogue walking shoes they actually felt a lot more comfortable. A few small steps cut out of a steep roadside bank took us onto the plantation.
From here, after the other Kirkwall volunteer had lit the necessary fires, we split up into smaller groups. Our task was to take out the non-native trees, make logs of the bigger sections (to become piles for insects and other wee beasties) and burn the rest apart from some brushwood. I went with Alan Leitch, the Orkney Warden, and another volunteer [I am rubbish at people's names]. Because of Health & Safety we kept out of the way while the warden took a chainsaw to the trees. He was thankful that he had a new chain rather than a blunt one like the others, but it did seem that his trees were the most difficult. Often he looked to have cut all the way through or made extra notches and still the beggars wouldn't fall. There was a partly fallen one held up by a smaller upright one, with a felled one six inches thick running down beside the base of both. Theory held that if the half-fallen one came down it would bring down the other with it. Perversely after a good deal of sawing the pair fell as a unit back over the felled tree !!
A dark wren came clockwise around us, resting in various piles and coming within two or three metres of me quite unconcerned. It might even have stayed for a photographic opportunity if I had my camera with me. Unfortunately even ultrazoom digitals only seem to come with wrist-straps, and my Casio's never stayed attached. With my SLR it would be slung round my neck ready for action even if under claes in this kind of weather, but digital cameras like to believe cold batteries are dead however much you curse under your breath and you need huge pockets for them. Anyway my bag was up the way. At one time I could hear high solitary notes from some mystery bird, the tease. Then I saw the bird itself flying downslope to tree, smaller than a wren it looked but tail no quite enough for a long-tailed tit. Alan enlightened me to its identity as a goldcrest. Later the bird flew back upslope to the north and another goldcrest crossed its path going down the way ! Another or the same wren quarter-circled us later, much lighter than the previous sighting but maybe the fitful sun had summat to do wi' that. A beauty of a jenny bringing thoughts of her time, Yuletide. On a few occasions woodcock and jack snipe were pointed out to me flying along the glen downhill. Must be an excellent birder to tell jack snipe from snipe at distance, I remember going by the supposedly distinctive movements to identify a jack snipe only for the previous bird recorder to identify a snipe from my photo. It is very hard to spot either bird and almost every time the first you know is their calls as they shoot off from literally just by your side. Did video one once though. Strange the way birds break cover when you wouldn't have seen them otherwise, even wierder the many species that choose to take a flight path straight in front of you - surely if I were a predator you would choose a direction opposite to the one I'm headed ?
Once I had settled on using work gloves instead of my warm ones the work was easy. Helps to be based around a roaring fire of course. At the second tree group we essayed I slowly realised that rather than trawling the odd one- or two-at-a-time back over obstacles it made more sense to dredge them up to the obstacle and then pass them over it into another pile for the other lad to move on or me to get when all had been piled up. Lovely crackling sounds as those branches with needles hit the fire. One tree I enjoyed picking up the branches against my arm and heaving them up by one end. As I dumped them on they all went with a whoosh, accelerated by al that sap I guess, and the remains went in no time. Unfortunately the next tree contrived to drop its end over the fire and Alan had to speed up.
There was a short break in the morning where we gathered together. Most folk had a beverage but though I had brought a drink this was only for an 'emergency' - I can hold off having a poop for hours (even if I need one to begin with) but nothing like that with fluids. I didn't really need the break for lunch, the break from work only cooling my hands down and slowing me. Of course if this had been late spring or summer I could have pottered off for a walk - Raymond Lamb found several archaeological sites in the region of the Whaness Burn and one is on hillside above the plantation, which sounds incredible. Back to work and my feet became increasingly adept at finding the holes in the ground surface. Moved some of the more slender long logs but arms not long enought for me to play with the short chunks . Didn't trust my back but still felt bad watching the other volunteer dealing with them. Came the time to bank the fire and that was mostly him too as I couldn't seem to do it right even using the same amounts of snow. A couple of times my feet sunk in amongst the heather and I spent what felt like ages reeling like a marionette to regain my balance. Finally Alan and the volunteer cast big loads of snow onto the centre of the fire as doing the edges wasn't doing so well.
Finished up about half-three and went to the warden's to wait out the 4:30 ferry back. Fiona donated a moist home-baked cake and muffins which soon went. Several folk were dubious about going to Hoy the next day so I let them know I would be absent.Parts around the ferry waiting room were like sheet ice. The state of tide made getting on board easy now. At Stromness at road level as we got off I saw a new covering of snow thin over ice so took care. The rest of the road, thankfully, was in almost the ame state as this morning. A stop-and-start race for Alan's car again, bag swinging in each hand, short of breath with a grungy throat once more. Would you credit it, we had that same small blue car in front of us again at what felt like a crawl. And again time ran short for Alan's boat back to Shapinsay. Fortunately the man beside him managed to ring the numbers for them to be informed that Alan would be a few minutes late. And that blue car followed us in. Surprisingly the driver proved to be a young chap, who made a dash for the waiting-room, presumably for the loo as this was the last ferry going now. I can only think that he has been 'done' for a driving offence and so is being a mite over-careful as a precaution.
Fortunately Cummins and Spence still open and I could get taties and so have my fish and chips a day early - the complexity of grilling bacon and tomatoes whilst boiling taties way beyond my energy levels now. Should have bought "The Orcadian" too, but didn't even feel up to stuffing that in my bag if I did. The next day it took a minute for the alarm to wake me at the time I would have been getting up to go to Hoy again. Aching sides, painful right foot and crick in the neck highlights of the 'afters' from Hoy. It wasn't the work that did for me but the terrain negotiated. After several hours and a Diclofenac my postre finally erect enough to go to the shops for my message. E-maile Lorna that though Hoy had defeated me as far as continual working on that land went I would still be up for the next task that came up otherwise.
Labels: RSPB, White Glen
