Sunday, November 13, 2011
DESSO TO MISTRA November 12th 2011
After the Out and About to Gurness it proved necessary to go back for a more leisurely photographic documentation of the broch and Viking settlement that had been buried beneath the Knowe of Aikerness. Inside the broch tower I found at least a couple of 'objets trouvé', being slabs with petrified mud tracks over them. One of these had at the top a rayed sun simulacrum, a most delightful find. Coming up from the Point of Hellia I finally spotted the Knowe of Desso. Like many early Orcadian kirks it had been built by water, a burn in this instance. At first all I saw was a small pointy mound, then another angle showed a long depression attached to this. In 1852 the Knowe of Desso (a.k.a. Denshow) was trenched by George Petrie, who found a 4' by 2'6" by 2" blue slate slab incribed with a cross in the style of the Papa Stronsay cross (which came from an early chapel dedicated to St Nicholas like the former Orphir and Holm parish churches). However perusing the map I may have seen the site other than where marked by others (though if so this would not be the first time one has been 'mis-placed'). At any rate I did capture it in low light, and there is a connection later.
Following the track alongside the Bight of Bundy there are several grassy hollows. At first I only felt curiosity, but after climbing down I was gratified to see that these were nausts for hauling up boats into. The NMRS doesn't mention boat nousts but there is a record for old winches that may relate. A heron took flight from who knows where and passed close by before settling on the Sands of Evie. Coming to the PC I prowled around looking for old bridges/culverts to little avail. Then on the southern side of the small building now used by fishermen I spotted drystone walling. And when I came closer these were part of a pair of obvious nausts, with most of the stone walls still surviving. These appear slightly smaller than the grassy ones seen earlier and I think are relatively modern.
A few skeins of geese flew overhead. By now the twilight held full sway and even the nearer of the broch mounds stood barely visible. So I took the path up to the main road. Along the way I turned right and took the broad track to the older graveyard. I still find that straight pile of stones by the entrance, the same white as those of the graveyard itself, highly intriguing. I climbed in over the devil's gate, slowing down coming down the other side to avoid slipping, and decided on a counter-clockwise perambulation in order to peer back out over the wall where a large linear mound of soil and refuse lies against it ahint the stone pile. Placing my hand on the wall I felt a snapped off stone and found that there had been another devil's dyke on this side of the entrance just as with South Ettit Kirk. Outside the next wall there were a few stones that looked to have been brought up by the plough but went as far as the soil pile where there appeared to be a few dark slabs sticking out. In the graveyard I saw a narrow linear depression that didn't match any gravestone - I nioticed several other miscellaneous anomalous depression elsewhere as I went around. A most peculiar thing is that most places along the walls there are stones that lie across the tops and project somewhat beyond the line. Most exciting of all is that there is another devil's gate near the NE corner which I somehow missed on my previous visit - and it seems that its lowest stone had been either level with the graveyard mound's surface or even below this. Fortunately my camera's flash proved up to the job of filming it. Jo Ben said that the mounds in this area were often seen playing host to mysterious lights. The graveyard is the site of St Nicholas chapel. This "poor small house in Stenso" had a thatched roof renewed every year. Sometime before 1778 it fell into disuse, and then one Sunday shortly after 1788 the walls themselves collapsed. On the odd occasions when a new grave is dug foundations have been known to disturb the spade.
The farmtrack has not always been there. On the first 25" O.S. a track comes straight up fom the shore to the NE corner where the third devil's gate is, then goes around to snake into the present entrance whilst going up to a field edge and across to where the path down to the beach bends. The map also shows a rectangular structure central to the graveyard and a smaller square one in the SE corner. It is a safe hazard that the formerly upstanding remains of these now form part of the linear mound and the stone pile respectively. I think also that St Nicholas chapel took its dedication from the Knowe of Desso [though you could possibly argue Dens = St Denys] when this went out of use. The physical connection between kirk and graveyard has not always been. Earlier there could be several hundred yards between the two like there could between kirk and kirkhouse 'priest's house' (as with Houton). So it is not beyond the bounds that this was first an outlying burial ground - there is still a ford to the north of the Knowe of Desso. Both could have lain along the course of the Man's Body. St Magnus body was brought onto Mainland south of the Point of Aikerness. Two places spring to mind, the Noust of Aikerness and the Port of Aikerness. The first is north of Aikerness (near the field end S of Reeky Knowes) and the second to the south (just ENE of the Howea Breck legend on the 1:25,000 map). My bet's on the former.
When I reached the main road there was still an hour before the bus. Fortunately unlike one small shop in Kirkwall the Mistra is open until six, so I had a cherryade to drink and a trurkish delight bar to eat and saved myself going to Tesco by buying a pint of milk. Anyway, it is always nice to take a gander around a new shop you come across or even one where I haven't been for many a year lke Mistra. Continued north on the road, then took pics of a golden moon on Rousay's skyline from the war memorial before heading back. Great relief on finding the bus shelter (I have a poor memory). Sat and saw the full moon swiftly and visibly rise until she hid her face behind a veil of cloud. For the most part the sky remained bright and clear. High up one of the planets twinkled at me throughout and after. Probably Venus. Not very good at night colour I had for a while confused this with Mars until this gleamed a more obvious red to my left, low over Dale. Better to be too early than too late I walked onto the verge opposite after the bus left uphill. Now I could see some stars - not many but enough to dazzle. High up above me the W of Cassiopeia shone bright on her throne. Over to my left the Great Bear's plough had an immense presence, Callisto superlarge this night. The cold was well worth the visions but I was glad to climb aboard the bus at long last.
Labels: Aikerness, Denshowe, devil's gate, Gurness, Knowe of Desso, naust, Noust of Aikerness, Port of Aikerness, St Nicholas 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
