Orcadian landscapes

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

Now that they have the go-ahead for the new Stromness pier I thought it time to re-visit the (at latest) Early Iron Age remains of Quoyelsh in case the approach to the point became blocked by this development, at least while it is being made, and fortunately this day the low tide fell during the day (though not as low as when I walked the shore al the way from the Bridge of Waithe). It has been a while since I have been to the Hamna Voe, and the building works at the head of the inlet are far advanced. The way I wanted to go said Building Site Only so I retraced my steps and found another way in. I took a chance on this and it is only when almost at the new path that I finally saw a notice that you could still use this whilst construction continued - it would only have served a purpose if stuck at the perimeter gates ! Coming round the bend I partly used the tarmac and grassy paths and partly the low grassy cliff beside it. You can get down onto the shore at a couple of places, but when you reach Copland's Dock either you cross a slippery stretch where a very shallow stream outflows or you go back through the dock. What from a distance looks like a ruined pier is the line of the White House Rocks, which form a short breakwater. The old dock hasn't been used in a very long time and now presents as an enclosure surrounded by high brownstone walls, on the spot formerly occupied by the White House of Pirate Gow Fame (though there is another over in the town of Stromness that came to replace Cairston as the chief area of the parish. Garson is the present phonetic name of Cairston, 'cairns tunship' named for all the mounds in the locality, the best known being the fully excavated and partially dug brochs. The dock interior is covered with grass but there are perhaps ruins of internal structures underfoot so you stick to the walls pretty much. Against the east wall is the only upstanding structure, a drystane fireplace. Not your typical hearth, what with small refectory bricks and and rusty iron plate supporting a large 'lintel' over the entrance. It is difficult to work out what purpose it served though it does seem more industrial than what you would think belongs in a dockyard - would be nice if it occupied the place of a fire in White House but seems unlikely. I'm more certain that the gates and walls could have come from back then. One odd feature in the wall itself is a long rectangular gap near the base that has been blocked up with several courses of thin slabs and has a wooden 'lintel' above. Despite low tide the seaweed rendered the beach an awkward route from here, and so I followed the track to the western tip of the Bay of Navershaw - the Point of Quoyelsh. What I hadn't observed before was that there is a small low mound on the broader part of the headland - probably to intent on looking for a rise where the Iron Age settlement is revealed in the cliff-face (though what is thought by the discoverer to be a corner resembles a cell rather). The pottery evidence found is possibly even Bronze Age, the mound is surrounded by damp ground so perhaps a teenie burnt mound ?? The whole cliff top on the western side looks suspiciously level to me. I think the term is lens. Let your eyes travel right and a stoney half-circle in some turf below the clifftop is all that can be seen of the Quoyelsh site (though later I find one isolated lichen covered stone on the surface just back from the edge here, though this may be simply lying there). It is definitely a built feature, but even I had to confirm with the archaeologist that this was it ! There are narrow courses, kind of, but these aren't all that even and consist of every kind of non-circular stone like the worst conceivable drystane dyke precursor. Perhaps it represents a deep platform rather than a standing wall. Something else new is a three-lobed stone just below the clifftop abouthands of where the headland starts, with its back to the cliff-face. But when I eventually manage a decent look I see modern graffiti and my hopes are dashed - found object or brought here to show off, no context as they say. Near the point I carefully make my way down. I need to have slides and (by my 'stills' camera) video to add to what I took last time. Oh, darn that seaweed... and the slippery rocks... and the howling wind. I' not sure I didn't feel safer up on the rocky surface up in front of the 'site', even with that gale tugging at me. Strangely enough the site seems stable as it is, because the thin slab sticking ot on its own at forty-five degrees is unmoved a whole two years later. There may be further archaeology nearer the actual point but it is only a few scattered stones apart from a long white stone below at shore level that could be part of a moulded ?floor (or merely an outcrop - forget its place again, must do better). Couldn't get to the site's left and so eventually went up top again. Headed straight for the peedie mound, very squishy ground away from the cliff. Actually much of the apparent height is grass, a vertically enhancing 'cropmark', so there is probably depth to whatever it is. Leaving the Point of Quoyelsh to look for another Iron Age site near the eastern tip of the Bay of Navershaw the way between fieldwall and clifftop soon narrows. Shortly after the fieldwall ends I find myself crossing what seems to be a very short bridge. A little further on the track disappears entirely and I am forced to retrace my steps virtually all the way back to the point before I can go onto the shore and continue. I find that the 'bridge' goes over a tall narrow hollow and I remember my previous walk along this coast seeing what I took for a small cave. I had no time to investigate then but this is by it. I can see that that fieldwall end over to my left is matched by another to my right. The assumption is that the stonework is from a wallbase from these two continuing and meeting. But for one there was no sign either visually or underfoot of any such fieldwall. And for another the bridging stonework is far too good for any drystane dyke I am familiar with - six shallow courses filling a small hollow and set back into the earth with a perfectly flat face. And there is no wall surviving at ground level. Curious. To find Dave's other site (NMRS record HY20NE 4 near the northernmost part of the bay, at HY268092 about halfway towards Bu Point). As well as pottery and a midden signs of structures are described as five single-face walls in the side of the cliff. I decide to hug the coastline in case I see anything for myself. Where the clffs come down the shore is a visited beach at times, but not quite that now. At the shoreline there is a broad swathe of low carpeting vegetation, Beneath which there may be stones, though my feet didn't say whether natural or man-made of course. Across this section there is a long patch of darker brown forming a shelf in the 'cliff'. My brain says breccia but I questioned this - looked like compressed seaweed but I hoped for archaeology of course. Went closer and touched it. A slightly less than hard matrix with a few stones. Much later my second-guessing mind was proved wrong when I found online pictures of breccia. When the cliffs rose again I still hadn't found the 'Garson' Settlement. But a) I could no longer see the fences to place myself [though I suspect it is close], and b) my way on was blocked by the sea on this occasion. And so I clambered up to the field's edge and tried to work out the way the people I saw last time came down because I know it exists. My hopes lay eastward. Along the edge there is no crop and the NW corner even the wild vegetation is sodden. Between this and the next field a broad drain empties over the shore, however surely if the marshy area is merely overflow the farmer would have tried to stem it ? Across the drain a path does come toward the shore but looks to stop short and there is barbwire at the coast. Tried going up the field's eastern edge but the footpath here stops at the top and I see no gate for folk coming from Garson way to use and turn back. Approaching from this direction the Quoyelsh site seems to be the northern bump of a saucer-shaped depression whose other side is at the headland point itself (where threadbare possible archaeology needs the leap of faith). Much later I find a webpage on the geology at the Point of Quoyelsh that shows this being where the Lower Stromness Flagstones give way to breccia, into which a felsite outcrop intrudes from the point (the outcrop being the fully exposed rocks at the end) - see http://www.landforms.eu/orkney/Geology/Basement/basement%20Quoyelsh%20Felsite.htm . Maybe not a coincidence that the site is at this landform, as tools were made from felsite. Ventured down again and took some more photos. The site has a rock shelf, and if it hadn't been blowing a gale I might well have tried to get to this from the cliff as I did at the Knowe of Verron in Sandwick. No, no, not this day. Starting off again I saw the tide at low ebb allowing a 4X4 to make its way from Inner Holm onto the mainland. I am fairly sure that the new pier's architects will not have done modelling with a tank to see what effect this will have on the coast here and wouldn't be surprised to see a build up of material joining Inner Holm to Cairston on a more permanent basis (for the first time since prehistory I would hazard). I went back through Copland's Dock and then turned left up the broad farmtrack to the new estate. I must say this has boomed since my last time there when all the houses were by the coastline. And now the industrial side of Garson has filled up, it now has a specialised Park like Haston Industrial Estate. Walking between this and the elevated housing estate I could have been in any town down south [specifically it reminded me of a road in Bury St. Edmunds I used to walk]. Had thought about a walk through Stromness but researching walks for the Blide's Out and About I realised that whilst I had lived at Garson I had never been on the track that goes from the Howe Road to the main Kirkwall- Stromness road. So at the road bridge over the mill burn I turned left onto the Howe Road and strode uphill. Up above me below the track a large cut in the hillside looked awfu' bonnie in the sun, the long disused Maraquoy quarry topped with bright flowers. I have a thing about grassy tracks and love to photograph them when they present themselves just right, and this one hit in several places. It passes over the highest point of Bruna Fea and there is a mast here enclosed by a steel fence with the other repeater station gubbins. This is a gae exposed spot and the winds were even stronger than down off the coast. The gale wasn't content to just pluck at me but buffeted my whole body. Invigorating. From here you can see the whole of the town of Stromness laid out before you. This will be a grand vista to photograph when the air clears ! That was to my left. Looking straight along the track to the Quholmslie area there is amongst the modern buildings a nice old brownstone farmstead, now fallen into decay, that I have seen atop a hill when going to the Stromness Loons. From there it is more isolated. This is Viewfield ( HY21SE 77 at HY25681104). On the first 6" O.S. this is shown as two buildings (one still roofed) in an enclosure, but on the present 1:10,000 as only a roofed building. I think the phrase is 'economical with the truth' as it is all obviously still there - I think maps nowadays can tend to simplify what is seen, as I have seen a very similar thing with a site by Saviskaill on Rousay (though PASTMAP shows the reality near enough). Coming down the other side of Bruna Fea I gazed down on Cairston Mill (Millhouse) and up the Burn of Sunardee millstream to Stairwaddy (whose first element 'rocky' appears as steiro in two broch names) and the wide weir before it. On reaching the main road from Rosgar I considered going across onto the road to Sandwick for closer shots of Viewfield. However I felt the bad weather closing in again and so turned right to precede the next bus, which caught up to me when almost at Deepdale. Safe but wet in myself (from the heat) and my claes (from the heavy rain).

Labels: breccia, Bruna Fea, Burn of Sunardee, Cairston, Copland's Dock, Garson, Inner Holm, Iron Age settlement, Maraquoy, mill, Pirate Gow, Quoyelsh, White House