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Rousay

Sites in this group:

27 posts
Blackhammer Cairn(s)
16 posts
Broch of Midhowe Broch
6 posts
Cubbie Roo's Burden Chambered Cairn
4 posts
Knitchen Hill Cairn(s)
6 posts
Knowe of Burrian Broch
7 posts
Knowe of Hunclett Broch
19 posts
Knowe of Lairo Chambered Cairn
Knowe of Lingro Chambered Cairn
4 posts
Knowe of Ramsay Chambered Cairn
6 posts
Knowe of Rowiegar Chambered Cairn
3 posts
Knowe Of Swandro Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork
33 posts
Knowe of Yarso Chambered Cairn
7 posts
Loch of Wasbister Crannog
11 posts
Long Stone Standing Stone / Menhir
17 posts
Midhowe Chambered Cairn
1 post
North Howe Broch
1 post
Quendal Cairn(s)
10 posts
Scockness Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork
5 posts
South Howe Broch
51 posts
Taversoe Tuick Chambered Tomb
1 post
Westness Chambered Cairn
1 post
Whoom Cairn(s)
7 posts
Yetnessteen Standing Stone / Menhir

News

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Archaeologists search for answers in 'Egypt of the North'


A TEAM of international archaeologists hope to answer questions remaining about an Orkney island known as "the Egypt of the north".

The experts have started the largest geophysics survey to date on Rousay, a hilly island off Orkney Mainland.....................



continues...
moss Posted by moss
24th April 2018ce
Edited 24th April 2018ce

Orkney archaeological dig is a battle between time and tide.


AN archaeological investigation of an eroding mound on the island of Rousay in Orkney dig is revealing extensive settlement.

But there is a battle against time to find the whole truth hidden under the ground at Swandro as the sea continues to eat away at the land... continues...
moss Posted by moss
31st July 2017ce

Knowe of Swandro lecture

Thursaday 8.00 in the St Magnus Centre on Palace Road, Kirkwall - results of this year's dig including tomb. Free talk ''Snatched from the Sea : Excavations at Swandro, the story so far.''
wideford Posted by wideford
31st July 2013ce
Edited 31st July 2013ce

Knowe of Swandro

This season's dig is showing that rather than a broch this is at heart a (Neolithic) chambered tomb - there is an item in this morning's Radio Orkney program (online later). There's only another week to go and the Open Day is this Sunday, July 22nd, from 11.30.
wideford Posted by wideford
20th July 2012ce
Edited 20th July 2012ce

Braes o Ha'breck excavation resumes

On Wyre about to start again (May 2nd) and will continue posting at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Braes-of-HaBreck-Wyre-a-Big-Dig-on-a-Small-Isle/196853287006365 .
wideford Posted by wideford
8th March 2011ce
Edited 12th March 2011ce

Images (click to view fullsize)

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<b>Rousay</b>Posted by wideford

Fieldnotes

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Visited Orkney last week and spent a day on Rousay. Unfortunately Midhowe was closed due to Foot in Mouth, but we went to 3 of the other chambered cairns.
Walking from the ferry terminal, the first along the way is also the most impressive-Taversoe Tuick. Discovered about 100 y ago, in true Victorian fashion by the Lady of the house in whose grounds the tomb is located (she was shocked to think of the summer afternoons spent lying on the mound unaware of the skeletons a short distance below the surface). The tomb is unusual, having two layers, and seems to have been designed this way rather than having a second tier added at a later time. Access is through an artificial opening in the upper layer-the original creep is very low & narrow and blocked by a grille. There's an exciting feeling inside - a metal ladder allows access to the lower chambers, all of which are well preserved. There's a glass roof which leaves the chamber feeling bright and airy, not damp at all. Outside there's a small chamber adjacent to the main tomb with a heavy wooden door covering it over - the boy had to creep inside and be closed in...
About a mile further along the road is Blackhammer cairn, situated about 50 yards from the roadside. This is a long stalled cairn, reminiscent of Unstan, but longer. It is preserved up to chest height, with concrete walls & ceiling. A heavy sliding door permits access in the midpart of the tomb - alas no symbolic crawling to enter.

The third cairn we visited was the Knowe of Yarso. This is a further mile away, but requires you to take a path (signposted) up a farm track and over some heather hillside for about 1/2 a mile from the roadside. We did this in a sudden blizzard of snow and hail, which made the cairn a real haven when we reached it. Again it is of stalled construction, with an outer and an inner chamber, reasonably large. Entry via a metal door - no creep. Again, it is preserved about 5 feet from the ground, with concrete above. A bit of a disappointment after the walk up - had little atmosphere I felt. The view from the top is spectacular however - looking over Eynhallow and the mainland.
Posted by a23
24th April 2001ce
Edited 7th June 2007ce

Miscellaneous

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Not too far away from the Long Stone, at HY380335 above Moan, is an earthfast stone 0.65m tall but 1.55m wide that is likely to be the stump of another standing stone. Lost/gone is the Westoval Stone, this was on a ridge called Steenie Festoval on the northern slope of Blotchnie Fiold (roughly HY4129) - if found, please return to owner. wideford Posted by wideford
9th July 2006ce
Edited 7th June 2007ce

Getting to Rousay
Orkney Ferries
Shore Street, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1LG
Telephone: 01856 872044
Fax: 01856 872921
Email: [email protected]
http://www.orkneyferries.co.uk/
Jane Posted by Jane
30th June 2004ce
Edited 7th June 2007ce

Latest posts for Rousay

Showing 1-10 of 243 posts. Most recent first | Next 10

Knowe Of Swandro (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Links

Swandro-Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust


Knowe Of Swandro website.
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
5th August 2022ce

Canmore


Like most places on Orkney it has been busy!
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
5th August 2022ce

Knowe Of Swandro (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — News

Race to save Iron Age settlement in Orkney from the sea


Archaeologists in Orkney are in a race against time to excavate an Iron Age roundhouse before it is lost to the sea.

Video Report : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-62408106
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
5th August 2022ce

Knowe of Lairo (Chambered Cairn) — Folklore

From "Wisdom of the Ancients" by Neil Oliver

Rousay locals have mostly never been inside the tombs. They say when you grow up surrounded by them, the tombs are of no more interest that the ruined, abandoned cottages that also dot the fields. I think this is just what they say to strangers. I think it is more likely those folk were raised to respect the tombs, maybe to fear ghosts so kept their distance. As recently as 1911 an Orkney farmer reported how he had been digging into a burial mound on his farm when there appeared beside at his side an old man, grey-bearded, in tattered clothes. He had a warning for the farmer:

“Thou are working thy own ruin, believe me, fellow, for if thou does any more work, thou will regret it when it is too late. Take my word, fellow, stop working in my house, for if thou doesn’t, mark my work fellow, if thou takes another shuleful, mark my word, thy will have six of thy cattle dying in thy corn-yard at one time. And if thou goes on doing any more work, fellow – mark my word, fellow, thou will have six funerals from the house; does thy mark my word: good-day fellow."

According to the tale, the deaths of six cattle duly follow and the funerals of six members of the household.
tjj Posted by tjj
2nd December 2020ce

Knowe of Rowiegar (Chambered Cairn) — Links

ROWIEGAR


Nice footage from 1937 showing what's beneath the grass
thelonious Posted by thelonious
12th October 2020ce

Scockness (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Images (click to view fullsize)

<b>Scockness</b>Posted by wideford<b>Scockness</b>Posted by wideford<b>Scockness</b>Posted by wideford<b>Scockness</b>Posted by wideford<b>Scockness</b>Posted by wideford wideford Posted by wideford
29th July 2017ce
Showing 1-10 of 243 posts. Most recent first | Next 10