Knowe of Yarso

Nearest town:
Kirkwall (18km SSE)
OS reference:
HY405279
OS sheets:
5, 6
Latitude:
59° 8' 2.33 N
Longitude:
3° 2' 23.32 W

Images

Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by wideford

the track where it levels off has a very steep drop to the left, cairn sits on a scarcement

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Jun 2, 2017
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by wideford

looking back from passage to the modern entrance

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Jun 2, 2017
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by wideford

central passage and right hand side

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Jun 2, 2017
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by wideford

west end cell contained most of the skeletal material

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Jun 2, 2017
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by wideford

view from end cell past stalls to modern entrance

Image credit: wideford
wideford
wideford Jun 2, 2017
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by thelonious

17/06/2013 – Knowe of Yarso. Walking through the little green door and seeing the inside for the first time near left me speechless. Very exciting place.

thelonious
thelonious Jun 24, 2013
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Moth

Yarso from the ferry

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 29, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Moth

Approaching Yarso, with Eynhallow and then mainland in the background – a ‘powerful’ spot

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 29, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Moth

The tomb from the front

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 29, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Moth

The far stall (west end)

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 29, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Moth

Like several other Orkney tombs, the roof has been replaced with concrete, but here part of the front of the tomb has also been reconstructed

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 29, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Jane

The tomb can be seen up there, above the sign on the skyline.

Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Jane
Jane Jun 30, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by Jane

Quick sketch made on site. It was nice to sit inside- out of the wind!

Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Jane
Jane Jun 29, 2004
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by a23

On top of Knowe of Yarso, on top of the world!

Image credit: a23
a23
a23 Aug 26, 2001
Image of Knowe of Yarso (Chambered Cairn) by a23

Inside the cairn, with modern roofing

Image credit: a23
a23
a23 Aug 26, 2001

Articles

Knowe of Yarso

wideford
wideford Sep 3, 2016

Just to emphasise it is a really steep climb, a very windy narrow path i places a foot wide. And when it levels out coming to the cairn there is a near vertical drop on the left, so not advisable if the wind is high

Knowe of Yarso

C
CARL Jul 11, 2012

Visited 5.6.12

It’s a fair old hike uphill to reach this Chambered Cairn (15 minutes) but it is certainly worth the effort.
By the time I reached the metal door to the Cairn I was breathing hard.
I was glad I decided to leave Sophie and Dafydd in the car!

Although this site is better preserved than the Blackhammer Chamber Cairn it still suffers from the same lack of atmosphere.
This is of course due to the same large concrete cover/ lighting etc.

As with most of the sites I visited on Rousay I had the place to myself.

There are 9 standing stones remaining with the same bright green lichen prevalent.

This site is still worth visiting but you will need to be reasonably fit to do so.

Knowe of Yarso

Jane
Jane Jun 30, 2004

The sign at the roadside says 1/2 mile to walk. But the walk is up quite a steep hillside, so take your time if you’re not a confident walker. I found it a bit slippy. It’s a nice walk though, past a load of noisy fulmars nesting on the rocky outcrops on the hillside.

It’s always damned windy in Orkney, but the gale on that hillside was vicious and bitingly cold. I was very glad to find this tomb was also concrete covered and sealed with a big metal door, giving both the tomb and me some protection from the wind. I took the opportunity to make a quick sketch of the chamber without my paints flying away. I paced out the length at 14ms.

Each side has evenly spaced stalls of big flat stones. The head stone at the end of the
passageway was bright green with alien blood lichen again.

Knowe of Yarso

Martin
Martin Sep 8, 2001

Knowe of Yarso Chambered Cairn
Wednesday 14/8/96
A heavy metal door greets the visitor to this cairn- no crawls on hands and knees here. It’s got one of those horrible domed concrete roofs, but the upright stones of the cairn that subdivide the space make up for it. Apparently this place was used almost 5000 years ago with 29 human remains found. 15 skulls were found in a line facing the wall of the innermost compartment. Today someone has left rabbit skulls and flowers down one endÉ.

Miscellaneous

Knowe of Yarso
Chambered Cairn
wideford
wideford Jun 2, 2017

An oval or sub-oval mound covered a stalled tomb entered from the south-eastern end. It resembled Midhowe except that the cairn sat on a substantial ‘scarcement’ surmounted by a foot high course of flags set at an angle thrn finally a horizontal course. It was the first such feature discovered in Orkney

Sites within 20km of Knowe of Yarso

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.