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wideford

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Tomb of the Eagles (Chambered Cairn) — News

Tomb Closed for coming season,


but other avenues to be looked at for the future https://www.facebook.com/TomboftheEagles/posts/pfbid0ASDnb2oBjnVJfbgdZsV2kdtd2hyBbJC5TAaPrXUoR5V6MW1DKfYTdFb1Rt2vX4aZl?__cft__[0]=AZVp7M7sXrIc8tmt8Z5WSLRBX908ZbNR7q-wV9nHEF-XtyefAfQBb6nd41oIh1rmJ6o_gcHMJJ9vPZzF1NyXuoIa6z6xsg2M1MV2gdFzpPAUDZM2fnQuXFdG-FRoMdqiMhOwlYxJ_uymIK494-rPnjAdSOJLFNXNkBShO3YHCvgb5A&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Hillock of Breakna (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Images (click to view fullsize)

<b>Hillock of Breakna</b>Posted by wideford

The Five Hillocks (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) — Images

<b>The Five Hillocks</b>Posted by wideford

Tammaskirk (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Images

<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford<b>Tammaskirk</b>Posted by wideford

Tammaskirk (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Fieldnotes

NMRS record no. HY 42SW 12. The way I went to the site requires low tide. By the Hall of Rendall the millburn enters the sea and you follow the shore from there. Some general features are apparent with a variety of construction techniques. It feels like the cliff isn’t natural but all mound material, and this appears to be born out by the rise to a low promontory at the N end close to the kirk site. Antiquarians deemed it a broch, though nowadays the more generic term of Atlantean roundhouse is preferred (“2 main sections of massive walling” with “coursed masonry and vertical slabs” seen as intra-mural). An alternative conjecture specifically related it to the Knowe of Nesthouse chambered mound, though the similarities strike me as superficial from a distance. From the main road you can make out the short arc feature between the field walls at the south end that shows on Canmap. If this were a roundhouse settlement you would expect more of these even with what is left of the site. If it is all we have of a broch tower perhaps the promontory is the outer bank for the outworks. We needn’t stick with any of the above, seeing it instead as a sequence of various Iron Age settlement types rendered higgledy-piggledy by time and erosion

Little Howe of Hoxa (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Images

<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford<b>Little Howe of Hoxa</b>Posted by wideford

Little Howe of Hoxa (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Fieldnotes

As you leave the broch take the road up until you see a large hut on your right Facing this open the gate to your right and then the gate beyond that, closing both behind you. Look left to the ruined croft and the settlement mound is just in front. The pre-broch settlement or ‘homestead’ covers some 28x18m and is up to 1.5m high, and was originally at least 10m more inland than the present 15m. A modern wall crosses the site, obscuring the interior. Wide turf-covered banks up to 3m ht. surround a 13mD central structure with an uneven dished sub-circular interior where loose stones indicate a later insertion (Viking fortlet or a planticrû ?). On the S side entry to the structure is by a 3m passage though the enclosing banks. At the NNW a semi-subterranean passage or intra-mural gallery has become blocked by stones in recent decades [I know this because a fellow Brochaholic got in once]. On site it feels to me like Castle House in East Holm, where, near to the broch site at St Nicholas Church, a square building (likely Viking) has been placed within an earlier circular structure

Little Howe of Hoxa (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Miscellaneous

NMRS record no..ND49SW 2
Traditionally a passage connects the Little Howe of Hoxa to the Howe of Hoxa, but Petrie found no traces.- Wainright’s avenue is declared to be one of several linear stone clearance heaps. When Petrie investigated (through partial excavation) the already disturbed mound he found a central structure within two curvilinear concentric walls having a passage approx.. 2’ high and 12-16” wide at the base increasing a little in width at the top. The wall combo was ~21’ wide either side of the entrance then decreased to 13’ wide, and enclosed an irregular central chamber of 20’D. Inside a gallery extended behind the wall. As well as a southern ‘doorway’ cut down to the bedrock there was another passage opposite connecting to the ‘inner court’. Both entrance passage and gallery passages were lintelled.

Sower (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Images

<b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford<b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford<b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford<b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford<b>Sower</b>Posted by wideford

Sower (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Fieldnotes

Coming down the road I first thought it to be the large mound I saw first, but this is a Great War battery. Further downhill a slightly lower mound is the castle A few have proposed this a a possible broch, but it lacks the usual outline. There was a cow with calf in the field and so I contented myself with photos taken with my ultrazoom camera. Fortunately this showed me a couple of the exposures of mound material. And it appears to me that there are two levels to the mound. Probably nothing, but I was minded on of one of the mounds in the site of The Cairns up the coast at Ireland. This too had been given a military designation, that of 'Danish fort'. Whence came Hoose-ha ? Perhaps some modern fancied it as being a house platform 'house hall' ? Likely to remain an enigma forever and a day.

Sower (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Miscellaneous

RCAHMS NMRS record no.HY20NE 5
Close to the shore on the north side of the Sower Road is a large unopened mound of earth and stones which the Name Book states locals called an old castle and appears on the 25" as a castle site. By 1928 it was known locally as the "Hillock of Hoose-ha" and a visit by the commission records "traces of a large indeterminate structure". Nowadays thought to be a settlement mound, it is roughly rectangular - some 24m E/W by 19m - and about 2m high. No walling has been seen but stone is exposed in places around the periphery and cairn-like material shows in two "mutilations" at the centre.

Comet Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Images

<b>Comet Stone</b>Posted by wideford<b>Comet Stone</b>Posted by wideford<b>Comet Stone</b>Posted by wideford

Broch of Steiro — Miscellaneous

"Countrywoman" visited this site in the 60s; partial collapse in 1964 brought out a building in the outer wall. In 1967, a wall-chamber was revealed and she noted a structure in the nearby shore under low banks. Strong walls had been exposed a year later. The site suffered serious gale damage in 1984.
The main feature is part of the broch tower's NE wall arc standing 4' high and having a scarcement with rubble-filled alcove thought to have been access to a stair/gallery. A later wall cuts across the wall arc at the east.
RCAHMS site no. HY 51NW 10 additionally mentions a ruinous naust up against the W side and, also at the W, outbuilding traces including an edge-slab in the shoreline. Then E of the broch there is rubble covering a well-paved floor set directly on the natural.

Broch of Steiro — Images

<b>Broch of Steiro</b>Posted by wideford
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Unemployed and so plenty of spare time for researching contributors' questions and queries and for making corrections. Antiquarian and naturalist. Mode of transport shanks's pony. Talent unnecessary endurance. I love brochs.

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