Monday, October 29, 2012
NORSEMAN TO FINSTOWN BY REDLAND ROAD May 5th 2012
Getting off the bus at Norseman Village I thought I would have a look along the coast to the east in case I could see the Knowe of Dishero. Unsurprisingly I couldn't, but what I did see much closer to were mounds on the coastline directly right of me. Petrie describes a group about a quarter of a mile from Isbister mill. These are the Oyce of Isbister mounds (NMRS record number HY31NE 8) - oyce/ouse 'tidal inlet'. What I could see was the dominant one. A gap between the houses let me get to a field fence to use my camera a fraction closer, not intending to add to my planned itinerary. My photos show me a mound with an earth scrape that is surrounded by gorse bushes. The O.S. list this as 'A' at HY39021802, and this is the significant one not only owing to its size but because there can be seen on it most of a cist (at least 3'6" long, the east end missing). In 1946 this mound of earth and small stones stood 5' high and 45'D (though in 1966 this is revised to oughly 14m E/W by 12m N/S). The rest of the artificial mounds range from about 15' to some 21'D, with a maximum height of 3'. On the O.S. list there are two other probable barrows (B at HY39001802, C at HY38981801) and three probable burnt mounds (D at HY39001808, F at HY39001811, G at HY39001813). On the other hand in 1979 Hedges gives 4 small burnt mounds (on the E bank of a burn emptying into a "lagoon") 60m from twa earthen mounds lying atop slightly raised land. This might be because he wants the two different kinds of site to occupy seperate areas. He describes the burnt mounds as on the E bank of a burn emptying into a "lagoon". What Wedgie calls a lagoon is an area of water behind what will one day [I think] become an ayre diividing fresh water from the briny. It is possible that the barrows were part of a cemetery as in1858 James Muir, tenant of Isbister mill and farm, found several cists close to his house (whatever close means in this case). The largest was 2'3" wide, with the SW side 5'8" long and that on the NE 4'8" long. To help prevent the ingress of water the depth was greater on the longer side (2'10" as against 2'7" max) with a half-an-inch of gravel on the level bottom. A flexed skeleton lay on its RH side at the NW end and another at the opposite end. Petrie noticed what looked to be outline traces of a large barrow in the surrounding ground. Another cist, with a similarly slanted lid, found about 5' to the SW held the skeleton of a woman face down. It was only 1'10" wide by 3' long and deep. The skull was at the ESE, a few bones near the middle and a heap of burnt ones a foot from the other end. Later a third cist a mere foot square was found 5/6' from the SE end of the second cist and had a pile of burnt bone fragments in the centre.
So over to the Lyde Road and hang a left at the first junction. I don't know whether the small ?cottage in the peedie plantation first left on the Redland road is occupied, though it is neglected AFAIK in this instance I "leave well enough alone". It is modern but not shown on the 1:25,000). The first definite dwelling appears as Backatown now, a change from the older Vinikelday 'pasture wellspring'. I think that a roofless croft seen on the hill side of the road might be Sinnakilda (sinna 'small drying kiln', but if second element kelder 'wellspring' then surely the first element is either sine 'dried-up' or sin 'hollow' ?). Hereabouts, if I remember correctly, is a delightful twisty burn near the base of the hill. There's a lovely gorse bank flowering bright yellow and a tree that seems to have no trunk !
The road then rises to Nistaben, a collection of long buildings keeping to the ?ridge west of the road. The longest house still keeps the roof of large flagstones that to me are a sign of good age to the farm. In the south-east corner of a field belonging to Nistaben (due east of it alongside the main road) is a slight rise called the Brae of Muckquoy (HY31NE 13 at HY37601740). On coming into cultivation in 1877 the brae gave up numerous yellow flints on each winter's ploughing/harrowing for some time and were still showing up even in the 1920s. At the same time cists with half-burnt bones also turned up. In 1920 the quantity was given as "a great many" but an account in1927 only says "several". The next field south, on the north side of the Redland farm-road, is the find-site for the Redland flints (HY31NE 21 at HY375171), which were one of a number of stone tool collections looked at by Caroline Wickham-Jones, amongst which were mesolithic examples. Over at the Brae of Muckquoy in 2000 fieldwalking by Orkney College's Geophysics unit, of an area only half a hectare in size, produced 300 'finds'. These included bone fragments, stone tools and flints used in toolmaking (also a flint arrowhead) as well as potsherds.Could Redland and Muckquoy be all the same feature ? The 1920 author describes two large erratic boulders on the north side of the brae of such contrasting shapes that they cannot but be indicators for the flints or cists (or both). Unfortunately I only found out about them [again] afterwards in connection with my walk. Presuming they are still there the tradition is that these were thrown by a Gairsay giant, only for one after the other to fall short of their mark. The first has five indents and measures 4' by 4' by 2' thick, the second is a 6' triangle tapering from 2' to 9".
On the other side of the main road from the Redland flints the broch of the same name is shown, though remains should be down as scant remains as it is almost entirely gone apart from possibly some banks. It may have stood by a lochan. NMRS record HY31NE 12 at HY37801715 hints that this might not have been your average broch. Another name for it is Steeringlo, which is obviously a variation of the broch name Steiro. A different spelling is Stirlingow, and I notice there is a Starling Hill up in Evie next to Starra Fiold, which brings to mind George Marwick's "starra kirks" and their stones. Pictish symbol stone HY31NE 15 is said to have come from nearby before being removed to take its place above someone's hearth. The record says that no-one has found the cottage this fireplace was in. Surely it can only have been Nutfield on the other side of the burn. At only about half-a-kilometre due south it is much closer than Redland and the owner could well not have been a tenant of that farm (always assuming the current farmer's family were around in the 19thC anyway, they tend not to check these things [cf. Crantit souterrain]).
The field directly west of that where the Redland flints were found had the name Chapel Field. Redland Chapel (HY31NE 9 at HY37151713) was on a prominent rise, where light soil still gives up old building stone. Like Berstane Wood the large plantation above Redland (home to burnt mounds - maybe a barrow cemetery - and WWII remains) can be seen for miles - a good indicator of where your eyes are at when looking from Kirkwall for instance. I take it that the set of roofless building at the lower edge of the farm are the original Redland. Now you have gained height a new perspective is gained on Damsay. Taking Damsay as being 'twin island' there is still the question of whether this is Damsay + Holm of Grimbister or a reference to the low-lying land where the broch and kirk were (and the mansion house is, despite being abandoned because of spooky goings-on) contrasted to the hilly section [high enough to hide the two storey building despite how low it appears from Mainland] where Sweyn's castle is now thought to have been at the apex (the broch having been excavated as this previously). My friend Dave Lynn has done an extensive survey of Damsay recently and found a lot more going on than known before - perhaps some group could 'do an Eynhallow' on it ? I saw a comment on a Holm of Grimbister image that the present causeway is natural (they erroneously contrasted it to one that really is natural) whereas depth soundings show what looks to be the one on a SW diagonal line from the eastern end. Boats look to have landed at the Sand of Fidgeon as there are modernised steps (with a locking gate) at the mainland cliff-face. And that causeway would have given shelter.
There is a very grand house, complete with what might be a low-walled garden, on the hillside just past Redland. This is Barm. The exterior is largely intact, with only minor damage to the north end wall and the cross-hatch design roof just above that (I don't mind the flaking of wall faces as buildings in old Orkney photo books show bare stone as being the vernacular - and don't get me started on harling dear boy). Near this, at right angles to it, are the roofless remains of a ?older building. Its east end is totally obscured by thick ivy. In front of it is a very low mound that I think used to be the platform for another building rather than a tell as it is level on top and backs into the slight slope. The next place to take my fancy is Vinden where the road dips. I believe that there might have been a mill just upstream. On the west side of the road there is another fine long old building setting off the modern house beside it.
Approaching Finstown I look down at The Ouse, an oyce 'tidal inlet' at the entrance of which is The Hillock. This broch mound has a pillarbox on top of it. And up here again is a different perspective, one my high-zoom camera appreciates. On the road is a place called Horraldshay. This means 'Horrald's height'. The Dingieshowe broch is alternatively named Duncan's Height, which makes me think that Horraldshay originally signified The Hillock alone. Late last century some darn fool sliced off the eastern side of the broch to make the cliff-face straight ! At the coast between the broch and the Kirkwall-Finstown Road is Thickbigging where the remains of Black Chapel hide out. The chapel appears in the 1946 RCAMS list not on the present NMRS. Early chapels are most often found in association with Viking or early mediaeval halls in Orkney. There isn't a traditition of one here however one might have expected one.
Horraldshay itself is a fine accumulation of buildings wholly uninhabited not long since - one unroofed building still has a modern window with glass intact. Leaving the main body behind after a distance there are the remains of the end of yet another building. Coming to this spot I can see an earthbank flanked track going to the rest of the buildings. The impression of faded grandness. Perhaps an early settlement, even an old tunship. But the various ages of these structures, some multi-phase, do not make matters clear.and I'm guessing mostly ;-) At the old quarry on Snaba Hill can be seen a cairn or two, but in the past several others could be found at other places on the hillside also. They might stil be there, slighted or obscured.
Coming down to the bridge downstream of Millquoy on the left I see a narrow line of stepping stones cross the burn. Not substantial enough to be anything but of present-day construction. On the other side of the bridge the banks are stone lined, the channel resembling a mill lade and continuing up to the mill itself. Where the burn empties into the oyce there is a dumping ground up on the high north bank (HY356142). This appears to my untrained eye to have been artificially built up, faced like a loose sea-wall with large boulders and slabs at the east end. Mayhap this is tumbledown from a demolished ?wartime building or buildings though. At one point there appears to be a rectangular cut, but I think this is just chance. Following the road to reach Baikies Stores to my left a curved stone and drystane wall looks to be topped by an earth dyke with a row of trees planted onto it. This is surely a trick of perspective owing to a sharp drop backed up by a wall. Here is the old Firth Manse, later U.P., the old Firth Kirk having been where the present gravayard is. Finally I reach the main road and have a sit-down at the bus shelter opposite the stores.
Labels: Barm, Black Chapel, Brae of Muckquoy, Broch of Redland, cists, Damsay, giant, Holm of Grimbister, Horraldshay, Millquoy, Oyce of Isbister, Redland Chapel, Redland flints, Steeringlo, symbol stone, The Hilloch
Friday, April 15, 2011
DAMSAY CONJECTURES
On PASTMAP only one Damsay site is indicated. So I was surprised on doing a search on Damsay through RCAHMS that nine came up ! A linked map displayed them. These additions are mostly from a field and desk-based survey. At the west end of the island the survey found three possible sites. South to north these are a possible mound and cist (HY38761370, NMRS record HY31SE 75) an enclosure (HY38781385, HY31SE 76) and a possible prehistoric settlement (HY38781393 , HY31SE 74). Offshore is a possible fish trap (HY31SE 82), though I would see fish traps in features near near Eves Howe in Deerness before I would this. The ?feature is at HY39411390 and a possible prehistoric barrow or mound (HY39141380 HY31SE 78) isn't very far away, being just above the M of MHWS on the 1:25,000. Those who say that Clouston's possible castle is a broch site say the castle site would be more central, placing it somewhere north of this ?barrow. A pity we have no details on any of these sites, like size or appearance. Another site type found was rig-and-furrow. The official grid reference for HY31SE 83 is HY39011406 but the aerial view show several 'fields' on the northern side of Damsay that leave a large and suspiciously blank space between them and the ?barrow. The castle would be expected on the high point here (actually, to my mind, the space is large enough for this and other structures) but the survey threw up nothing. Of coure there is precedent for defensive structures to be completely removed, but I wonder if the surveyor actually walked onto this high point - I know from personal experience how even on the slightest knoll stones may not be apparent until you are right on top of them. In the 14thC there was both a castali and a skali on Damsay (in Orkney skali is translated as 'hall').
There are presently three bodies of water in the eastern half. However on the 1849 commonty plan of Firth [a large fragile map in the Orkney Archive, shewing Rennibister as Bull] only the main one appears - the other two are marshy areas on the 1882 25" O.S. This is in the north-east corner and its northern end seperates the St Mary's Chapel site from the putative broch. This lochan has a suspiciously straight western edge, making it resemble that at Ferry Point on the nearby mainland (used to land peats until an incoming owner of Quanterness stuck his oar in). I suspect this is the result of late 19thC landscaping, otherwise... (I have seen mediaeval or prehistoric furrows in a roadside field beside the track to Ferry Point, and seeing my photo Anne Brundle did not disagree). Recent underwater archaeology found a likely burial ground offshore.Once upon a time there was a causeway from the Point of Damsay north-west all the way across to the Skerries of Coubister in mainland Firth. A few years ago during an
exceptional low tide a man donned waders and made the full journey (there is a narrow channel that allows boats passage). Perhaps the end of the causeway is referred to in an alternative translation of a tradition related by Jo Ben "They say that sometimes ridges of hills are taken away and in the space of an hour restored again".
Anyhoo, St Mary's Chapel (HY31SE 21 at HY38951422) only exhibits an 8" high portion of drystane wall under six foot long, as has been the case since at least 1848. Its turf-covered mound is fourteen by seven metres and four foot high. Many early mediaeval chapels started out as private chapels belonging to a hall owner. Warebeth chapel is strongly associated with Munkerhouse and so surely the putatitive broch site on Damsay is [also] where the monasterium was (technically a nunnery is a foundation with a female head, so a man must have been in charge here). Storer Clouston found no evidence for the 12thC castle save "a very possible site of a small rectangular tower... the sea on one side and a steep bank on a second" unconnected with a drystone dyke there. Similarly John Fraser thought a small mound at the NE point of the island was connected with the castle. Presumably this is not the same as the chapel mound and is referred to an enclosure where I would put the monastery and thought a possible broch to boot - castle HY31SE 25, ?broch and mediaeval settlement HY31SE at HY39031460.
Amongst all this what isn't mentioned is the standing buildings there, including the (unroofed) two-storey house so evident to the eye. Could be they are subsumed under 'mediaeval settlement' I suppose. The big hoose had windows and I am torn between a construction date from the great Orkney-wide building expansion of the 17thC (loke Breckness) and the much later period of mansion house building (Like Garson). It could even be on the site of an older structure. It is close to the shore and what seems to be the remains of a one-storey extension could be a boathouse. Or maybe a walled garden. Difficult to tell from the shore even after seeing it with a zoom lens from several different directions. Which is why (I guess) a field survey should survey everything, including what others have done
before. The building, or is it a pair of buildings, abut the division of two fields/precincts/?. These 'precincts' division is the longest edge. The western one is bounded by a stone dyke but not apparently the eastern one where the possible broch site is located, though it still stands out clearly. No boats to Damsay unfortunately.
The commonty plan shows no lochan at Ferry Point
Labels: broch, castle, Damsay, monasterium, nunnery
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
