The 1st 25" map show's Peter's Kirk (HY32NW 12 at HY33742870) on uncultivated land between the low cliff and an obtuse angle wall, west of which 'enclosure' are the legend Burial Ground and a due N/S aligned oval Cairn (apparently banked) slightly bigger than the kirk - another smaller building is shown at the edge of the southern wall segment near the corner. The stone cairn (HY32NW 16 at HY33712870) is presently described as turf-covered, about 9mD by 0.7m in height and marking the edge of a settlement mound at whose highest point the kirk is. Though in 1967 Ordnance Survey were unable to classify it, as the result of what they considered severe mutilation, in 1981 the SMR talks of what might be the concave inner face of a structural wall on the north side, formed by a row of edge-set slabs. Also on the settlement's edge, east to south-east of the kirk, are several irregularly placed erect stones. These are tentatively described as grave-markers but could be from an underlying structure [as with the broch features diggers have found at Warebeth Cemetery on occasion]. To the north-east of the site the cliff cuts through the settlement to reveal traces of prehistoric structures up to three metres in depth, described as unsurveyable by O.S. in 1967. Alongside is kitchen-midden.
Within this burial ground are the remains of St.Peter's Kirk , one of several Orcadian churches assigned to him that were built on broch sites ( Mary may do similar duty , one broch is at the village of St.Mary's and the remains of a St.Mary's are hard by the Biggings Broch ) .
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Posted by wideford
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