Saturday, May 14, 2011
COMMENTS ON GLAITNESS (KIRKWALL) FIELD TRIP
http://class7glaitness10.blogspot.com/2011/05/hatston-field-trip.html gives a better location for the broch - the RBS bank. Macgillivray believed there were other brochs around what is now Kirkwall, with vanished Munt (later Cromwell's Fort) and the Peedie Munt (nearby) the likelier candidates with Dunkirk a further possible ["The Orcadian" 18/8/1986].
Actually there were two rock art 'panels' at the Pickaquoy burnt mount, but we only know the fate of one. To my mind their presence indicates that there was once a tomb on this side of Wideford Hill (the RA would have come from something earlier than the burnt mound in any case). I am surprised that they didn't go to the new Hatston pier with the Saverock burnt mound off its road to your left going down showing the burnt material in several exposures.
The line of the old airfield runway is now a broad farm track. When they constructed the airfield they found not only the Hatston Airfield earthhouse but a second underground site that was not investigated ["The Orkney Herald" 12/7/39]. Of course we also have two at Grain, a second one being excavated in recent times, and two at Midhouse in Evie. A pattern maybe to look for at other Orcadian locations (there was one in what is now a triangular field close to the new pier, thought by Petrie to have been part of a broch) ?
Once or twice small fragments of the Pickaquoy St Duthac Church have been found. Indeed I saw a building fragment myself by the fence near the houses,but forgot to photograph it and next time it looked to be gone ! There is supposed to be another dedication in St Ola to this saint, on the way to the Head of Holland, but the formation Kirk Doo rules this out. More likely is the doo=dove as symbol of either Mary or the Holy Ghost or [IIRC] Mother Church.
http://class7glaitness10.blogspot.com/2011/05/hatston-field-trip.html gives a better location for the broch - the RBS bank. Macgillivray believed there were other brochs around what is now Kirkwall, with vanished Munt (later Cromwell's Fort) and the Peedie Munt (nearby) the likelier candidates with Dunkirk a further possible ["The Orcadian" 18/8/1986].
Actually there were two rock art 'panels' at the Pickaquoy burnt mount, but we only know the fate of one. To my mind their presence indicates that there was once a tomb on this side of Wideford Hill (the RA would have come from something earlier than the burnt mound in any case). I am surprised that they didn't go to the new Hatston pier with the Saverock burnt mound off its road to your left going down showing the burnt material in several exposures.
The line of the old airfield runway is now a broad farm track. When they constructed the airfield they found not only the Hatston Airfield earthhouse but a second underground site that was not investigated ["The Orkney Herald" 12/7/39]. Of course we also have two at Grain, a second one being excavated in recent times, and two at Midhouse in Evie. A pattern maybe to look for at other Orcadian locations (there was one in what is now a triangular field close to the new pier, thought by Petrie to have been part of a broch) ?
Once or twice small fragments of the Pickaquoy St Duthac Church have been found. Indeed I saw a building fragment myself by the fence near the houses,but forgot to photograph it and next time it looked to be gone ! There is supposed to be another dedication in St Ola to this saint, on the way to the Head of Holland, but the formation Kirk Doo rules this out. More likely is the doo=dove as symbol of either Mary or the Holy Ghost or [IIRC] Mother Church.
Labels: broch, Cromwell's Fort, Doo Kirk, earthhouse, Hatston Airfield, Lower Mithouse, Midhouse, Munt, Peedie Munt, Pickaquoy burnt mound, Saverock burnt mound, souterrain, St Duthac Chapel
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
