Orcadian landscapes

A FERTILE PLAIN Colin Richard has finished a three week dig in Orkney on an Early Neolithic house on the lands of Smerquoy across from where the Old Finstown Road bottoms out at the base of Wideford Hill. along from Redworth. From the old trail to the tomb this seems to stand at the head of an old burn system. Given the time constraints the decision was made to concentrate on this part of a suspected settlement, at HY403113. At the beginning he said he believed that there are further settlements hereabouts. Other settlements have been excavated in recent times based on flint scatters. Over towards Rennibister there was the 'Wideford Meadow' dig at HY407126 and north of the Quanterness tomb the Crossiecrown settlement at HY423137. In 2008 I saw [what seemed to me to be] likely-looking cropmarks at HY406122 in the field directly below the Wideford tomb, perhaps an extension of 'Wideford Meadow' ? Between here and the main road came the Old Dyke of Quanterness (i.e. Gorse Dyke) flint scatter HY407126. A flint scatter came from near Rennibister, at HY398123. A mace head fragment was found on the lands of Kingsdale (in the area of HY377117), and at nearby Rossmyre 'horse marsh' a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead came to light (roughly HY382120). Further towards Finstown a hammerstone was discovered in the Grimbister region, though these artefacts are less dateable. And then below Cuween Hill another settlement was dug on Stonehall farmland HY366126.

Labels: Crossiecrown, Grimbister, Kingsdale, Quanterness, Rennibister, Rossmyre, Smerquoy, Stonehall, Wideford Hill, Wideford Meadow

St Nicholas Chapel in Evie was, until the 18th century, the parish church. In this I believe it took over from the Knowe of Desso (aka Denshow), where George Petrie trenched out a blue slate cross-slab. This is in the same style as the Papa Stronsay cross, which came from another chapel dedicated to St Nicholas. Add this to the Holm church and that once standing by the Round Church in Orphir, similarly dedicated parish churches, and you get a strong feeling that in Orkney [and some places elsewhere] a dedication to St Nicholas shows where an early (or early Viking at least) kirk had been built. Too much of a coincidence otherwise !

I have learned this week that what appears to be an ancient tradition of the healing properties of dew from certain places is that this is a displacement, that originally the curative was well water before this became thought superstitious.
On Wideford Hill in St Ola there is a day of the year when lassies run up the hill for the first morning dew. If we look instead for a well there is only one on the whole thing, on the false crest called Blackhill. This is near Blackhill farm. I knew it to be special from the first time that I saw it. A big bowl-shaped depression at HY423114 with the remains of a wall at the wellspring side (though the W is shown further up the field edge). I think it once held more water - when the reservoir was built they initially had a problem with a leak.

Labels: Blackhill, cross slab, St Nicholas dedication, wells, Wideford Hill