MILLDAM IS GREENTOFT
Went back to the original newspaper article, and finding out who found the cists could establish the whereabouts more precisely. In the 1850s John Delday brought some Deerness land into cultivation at what became Greentoft,.His son George found the "Milldam Farm" cist barrow in 1861 when extracting clay (one of two mounds on the summit) whilst Petrie was excavating a settlement on the hillslope. In 1869 George Delday found Bloody Quoy whilst bringing land at Greentoft into cultivation for his son-in-law. As there was a milldam behind Greentoft Farm the inevitable conclusion is that Greentoft and Milldam are one and the same, and highly likely that Bloody Quoy is the Milldam site even though this is on a false crest rather than the 'true' summit..
In 1861 during the time Petrie was digging the low hill Mr Delday found eleven cists in assorted sizes. They contained burnt bones in quantity, and outside the cists more in a couple of "crudely fashioned clay urns". One fell apart on lifting, the other being too fragile measured in situ 17" deep and 12" wide diminishing to 6", the average thickness 5/8 of an inch. Altogether the barrow held eleven cists. One near the centre, described as level with the surface, had its crude coverstone topped by a stone block some 5' by 4' by 7" thick ! The flag sides were neatly fitted together. The other cists. not as well formed, surrounded this cist but with their bottoms level with the central one's top. Petrie only saw three in the west side of the mound for himself, and his rough drawing only shows five of the total. The largest of those he saw, three foot square and about 2¼' deep, held another some one foot square which contained burnt bone. The second, adjoining cist, was narrower and the third smaller yet. Both of these also contained burnt human bone, and shingle and loose stones surrounded them both.
In 1869 either side of the road is the site of Bloody Quoy ( HY50NE 6 at HY56670696, also Anglicised as Blood Field). Also called after nearby Greentoft. I think the record is a little confused about the other find - in May 1869 at Delday a G Delday found a long cist whilst ploughing, 5' long, 3'6" deep but only 1'8" wide. The heaped bones of two skeletons were found at either end. A polished granitic cushion mace-head was found here, probably on the northern side and measuring 4 5/8" long by 2¼" wide by 1¼" thick. A later farmer reported near the cist site an ~20mD cairn-like feature straddling the road included burnt earth and stone. Amongst the rough stones of which this was composed one strongly resembled a trough quern, which is another indicator of a Neolithic date.
Regarding Petrie's investigations on the slope, he found building traces and vessel frogments under the soil to which he attributed a Broch Age date. More specifically he mentions a wedge-shaped stone tapering in thickness with deep notches at the thinner end, perhaps a stake he thought, of a type found either in or about brochs. Mind you, they thought Skaill to be Iron Age (or later !!) well into Childe's investigations.
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DEERNESS BURNT MOUNDS & OTHER ANTIQUITIES February 23rd 2013
Took the bus to Lighthouse Corner. Had tons of time so went down to have a look at Skaill. The church has only been called St Ninian's since a steamship of that name ran aground in 1903. Going between the farm and the kirk are two steep-sided nausts. One of these has next to it a wooden vessel of the kind I later saw near Balfour Castle. It is mounted on a pair of wheels near the sloping front, which hinges down. I'm sure I should know what this object is, but cannot remember. Lookin past it I see a curving bank between the kirkyard wall and the sea and in the distance the Horse of Copinsay. After a brief walk on the beach I climb up onto the cliff and between the burial ground and the sea is a broad flat area. I feel that I am walking some early modern farm track (perhaps to the gravel pit on the 1st O.S.), with the bank cast up to protect it from the waves. However it would seem I am looking at part of an ancient sand-dune called Howan (HY50NE 21 at HY 5889 0633) that had produced Iron Age tools long before a trial trench was was excavated. In 1964 the OS reported a thin layer of dark silt in a grass-covered "inner circle" bank that would have been about 7m in diameter (which seems smaller than what I saw). Visible in the cliff-face, the deposit included a little domestic midden but produced ard marks of possibly Late Bronze Age date. So despite earlier finds not Broch Age. However I just cannot believe that this bank came about simply at the hand of Nature. Knowing how ancient Orcadians loved to use the natural to form structures etc I wonder if this could be a ringwork like that hypothesised for Campston/Venikelday over in St Andrew's. In 1982 Mr Foubister found fragments of prehistoric buildings between the Howan and the kirkyard's (present?) SE corner.
Retracing my steps to Lighthouse Corner I turn left onto the road running along the base of Esnaphy Hill. On the lower slope a whole heap of hedges and shrubs sit below the buildings at Copady (I presume it is called that still). Up ahead is a dirt track. I quickly establish that this isn't the way to go, it simply turns back to the farm slightly upslope of Copady at Diamonds. At the next corner I turn right and past Watermoss before turning uphill on a bearing for Seatter. A ruin on the right is Millfield. As far back as 1880 the Orkney Name Book records that stone tools had been found at various times on this croft. There were two mounds (what is now) two fields to the east, west of Nether Stove, in what are now two fields. And to show that one should always take reports of site destruction/loss with a pinch of salt - especially out in the field - though supposedly gone by 1930 through cultivation they were only hidden by pasture, one sited at HY57450693 and the other surviving as a low mound at HY57430704. This 9mD 'eminence' is only 0.6m high, so probably hidden by grass until you're right on top of it - what with climate warming the grass never stops growing in winter even in Orkney now, so glad I managed some slight sites before this happened as you can barely make them out now even when you remember where they are !!
Seatter has quite a lot of buildings. I suspect some to be wartime as the structures on top of Ward Hill are the remains of a Chain Home Low radar station called grandly R.A.F. Deerness. On top of this Warthill, at Deerness highest point, is a burnt earth and stone mound of uncertain date. It is suggested that this,HY50NE 7 at HY 5689 0739, is the varda 'beacon' itself rather than something truly prehistoric. Nothing to stop it being both, like e.g. The Wart on Hoxa Hill. The mound is aligned E/W and measures 23 x 14 x 2m. Near the northern side of the road at HY56910705 an old well is capped at ground level by several thin slabs. I suspect not all are original. At some stage late on a primitive (?concrete/conglomerate) covered drain has been made from this to the road, where the end is capped by a single thin slab. When this field is waterlogged the water will discharge over the road. Probably always has, as the field on the other side coming up to the next turn contains two burnt mounds of similar dimensions, some 10 x 7 x 0.4m each. They're both covered by grass and I only identify the further one because of the visible stonework. Go under the names of Millfield or Greentoft, HY50NE 3 at HY56860698 and HY56920699. One, hopefully the further west one that I spotted, went by the individual name of Koffer Howe. The archaeologists are puzzled by the name. However it could be coffer as in a burial or perhaps Khaffir as a reference to dark burnt material. Turning the corner all of the previous mounds are dwarfed by another mound on the same side of the road with its longer side facing it. HY50NE 41 at HY56700682 also goes under the name Greentoft, stands over a man' height at a little over 2m high and is 50m long by 17m high. When under the plough not only burny material comes up but red stones too. The grass-covered slopes appear gentle to me, with the faintest hint of a cresecent face. The rusty gate to the field stands between erect stones. The left one is marvellously gnarled. Before you come to the corner the Denwick road branches off upslope on the right. Either side of the road is the site of Bloody Quoy ( HY50NE 6 at HY56670696, also Anglicised as Blood Field) which preceded its creation by millenia, going by the polished granitic cushion mace-head found here, probably on the northern side, measuring 4 5/8" long by 2¼" wide by 1¼" thick. Also called after nearby Greentoft. I think the record is a little confused about the other find - at Delday a G Delday found a long cist whilst ploughing, 5' long, 3'6" deep but only 1'8" wide. The heaped bones of two skeltons were found at either end. A later farmer reported near the cist site an ~20mD cairn-like feature straddling the road included burnt earth and shells. Amongst the rough stones of which this was composed one strongly resembled a trough quern, which is another indicator of a Neolithic date.
Coming to Noltland it is a fine tidy piece appealing to the Romantic view. Part of the enclosure is a curving stone wall by the road. There is a short tree with sparse spreading branches making it wide like some pollard, which I'm sure it isn't. Next to that ivy shining brightly the day fills the space between two doors either side of the end of a stone block building that looks to be free-standing. The romantic ruin comes after that. Or maybe it's two ? This blends seamlessly into a roofed bit. Finally there's the present dwelling by the road clad in white. Taken altogether it does have the feel of buildings mostly enclosing the central space. At the crossroads I turn left again. Here we are, back in the formal 19thC with a church, manse and school [the Free School House started off as Rosevale].I am intrigued by a place called Malisburgh about which I can find nothing. A grand two-storey house but not a mansion house. From the main road it appeared to me to have a low walled garden in front and to the sides, however this is an illusion caused by dark bushes bordering the fences of a ?field and other pieces.
Looking up to the former United Free Church of Deerness there is a long natural mound called Howan Blo (HY50NE 5 at HY571060). It is some hundred yards south of the kirk but looks closer from the main road. Here over the course of a few years Mr Aim, the farmer at Blow(e)s, came across internments near its crest in 1929 and 1932 (the record says 1933, but Callendar's article from that October refers the discovery to "January last"). On both occasions he covered the finds until the archaeologists came. In early March 1929 whilst digging into the clay his plough lifted the coverstone of a short cist containing an eight inch high dolomitic steatite urn and potsherds from a small urn. The cist was hollowed into a circular depresssion 4-5" deep in the centre, floored with stone flakes averaging some 5" square and ¼" thick. In plan it was approx. 20" by 16" with sides of bluish Orkney sandstone slabs each 18" deep and 1½" thick. There was a layer of burnt human bones 5-6" deep. After excavation the farmer put the remains back and covered the find. in January 1932 Mr Aim made another find only a few feet away. This consisted of a Bronze Age cinerary urn and fragments of a smaller one, both of clay. The large urn held bone ash and potsherds. When the archaeologists came and did their excavation they found an urn-shaped cavity under a coverstone just five feet away, though it had never held an urn. It measured some 15" deep and 12" wide diminishing to 5", and was almost completely filled with the dark greasy remains of bones. Though the urn passed to the museum the rest was re-buried as before. Later attempts to locate these proved unsuccessful. I'd love to know when the church was built, because with names such as Millhill just to the east and Little Millhouse not far to the SSW this could be a candidate for the Milldam Farm site.
Reaching Lighthouse Corner again I find myself with time still before the next bus. And even though it will be the last of the day I decide for a quick walk, sort of, and head down the Aikerskaill road for the coast. Only one corner survives intact of a drystane building near (I think) Grundigar. Apparently this was Steinflett. There are piles of stones in proximity, only they come from several sources. And there is a modern standpipe by the corner. I love that corner honeyed by the low light. The next ruin is probably of Howes, near Aikerskaill if I remember aright. It survives roofless but pactically entire, with several stone block buildings of different sizes and some with high pitched gable ends. Finally reaching the coast I thought about going east, along the track that conceals the foundations of a linear settlement to the Point of Ayre, because it looks as if you could continue anti-clockwise and on to the Ayre road. But owing to my uncertainty I opted for the safer, if longer, walk west. Along the way I pass the How(i)e o' Backland, most likely a broch. Presently divided by a farm track there must have been only one field once as for the site we have the name 'enclosure of the broch' Quoyburing, which, or was, pronounced Quoyburrian (a Quoyburray is close to Round Howe in Tankerness). HY50SE 8 at HY58040402 is a 3m high mound covering a little over half-a-hectare even now, covering a broch and probably outbuildings. A Dr D Brothwell excavated an almost full height curving wall when digging a trial trench. There is only room for such at the west side as the east is lower and dips down to a pool, possibly modern. In the NW a portion of external ditch mentioned in the record can be made out by 'the eye of faith' and a little further west by a jagged little pool is a suspicious small bump.
At Newark I made my way back to the main road, I think using that nice Oback road. If memory serves I reached New Lighthouse in time to catch that last bus back. Phew !
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Milldam in Deerness
"Anderson's Guide to Orkney" of 1884 refers to excavations on Milldam Farm in Deerness in the summer of 1861, and the "Orkney Herald" of June 11th 1861 gives more detail for these. Though the newspaper does not name the site it does say it is in Deerness. Which is confusing as the only place of that name in the parish of St Andrew's & Deerness is in St Andrew's, where there is a Millbrae site with two burnt mounds recorded, the same number as the Milldam barrows. So I was delighted to find that there is a mill dam behind Greentoft farm and hypothesise that there has been a name change between 1861 and 1880. Petrie is on record as having excavated five cists from within a barrow near Warthill in 1861. Though this is less than the eleven in the paper, he only saw three himself and might only have sketched those he knew the location of. Or they are from the second of the two barrows. It has been decided that the Warthill barrow is now the large mound fragment on the Ward's southern spur at 75' Ordnance Datum, between the reservoir and Seatter farm HY50NE 10 at HY56760717. There is another mound on the Ward, HY50NE 7 at HY 5689 0739 at the highest point in Deerness (85' OD). Seems strange to me that this is ruled out as a burnt mound precisely because it contains burnt earth and stones, but there you go. This supposed varda 'beacon' is aligned E/W and measures 23 x 14 x 2m. So on to the original reports.
Anderson sums it up as the excavation of probably Iron Age ruins (Greentoft= green-steethe 'site of old buildings') in the slope of a low hill on top of which were barrows containing cists with burnt bones "and clay urns outside these". Petrie started off investigating traces below the surface of a large settlement accompanied by stone vessels similar to those found in brochs. There were two barrows on top of the low hill, and while extracting clay from one of these the tenant farmer found many cists in assorted sizes. They contained burnt bones in quantity, and outside the cists more in a couple of "crudely fashioned clay urns". One fell apart on lifting, the other being too fragile measured in situ 17" deep and 12" wide diminishing to 6" [similar to the dimensions of the Howan Blo cavity], the average thickness 5/8 of an inch. Altogether the barrow held eleven cists. One near the centre, described as level with the surface, had its crude coverstone topped by a stone block some 5' by 4' by 7" thick ! The flag sides were neatly fitted together. The other cists. not as well formed, surrounded this cist but with their bottoms level with the central one's top. Petrie only saw three in the west side of the mound. The largest of those he saw, three foot square and about 2¼' deep, held another some one foot square which contained burnt bone. The second, adjoining cist, was narrower and the third smaller yet. Both of these also contained burnt human bone, and shingle and loose stones surrounded them both [the Howan Blo cist had a floor of loose stone].
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ELWICK BAY TO GRUKALTY, SHAPINSAY May 15th 2013
The tall crenellated cylindrical structure to the left as you come into Shapinsay is called the Dishan Tower from its use in the 19thC as a primitive shower called a douche-house, hence its other name of The Douche. However this use must have been late in the century as the first O.S. still marks it as a doocot. It dates back to the 17thC when Cliffdale held court over Shapinsay. The obvious dovecot on top is decribed as a corbie-stepped cap-house in the NMRS. presumably more pigeons came in through the long narrow vertical slots in the seaward side. It does seem a strange setup, even with an entrance up on the landward side you wonder if the dovecôte didn't somehow come before the tower. And if it is as was, what of the Rendall Doocot's claim to be the only circular one in Orkney ? Everything in excess. As you come into the harbour the slope-roofed structure to the left of the pier, topped by three large slabs, used to be a kind of toilet block. You entered round the back, between it and the harbour wall, and the tides took away the effluent. Simples. Left of this structure a small circular tower is actually set into the harbour wall, with a side-on entrance having a long lintel of pale red stone keyed into the wall and a small window aperture in the centre of a deep oval depression in a stone block. Inside is equally pretty but the step up still gives no indication of any utilitarian use for this tower.
This side of Shapinsay/Shapinsha goes by the name of Sound. And we were sounding out the coast, first passing between the slim Phrygian cap-ped pillars and by the side of the early 17thC gatehouse, yet another ornamental design from when the Balfours took over the Cliffdale lands. Following the path coming close to the Dishan Tower on the landfacing side of the track is a large wooden object resembling a chipboard boat or landing craft (the front sloping forward), though the first thought in my mind is narrow boat [in non-PC terms barge]. The bottom is slightly curved, like one of those herb choppers chefs use on telly.
If I come this way again I must see if I can locate the prehistoric stuff eroding out of the shoreline southwest of the castle. This Iron Age site is called Setter Noost [sic]. HY41NE 13 at HY47301621 is believed to cover an area of about forty metres square by including more midden and various lumps and bumps above the shore. In 1972 in the low shore twenty metres west of a ruined lime kin in a seventeen metre exposure the O.S. saw several orthostats and bits of drystane wall as well as a midden 1.3 metres thick. At the west end of this an obvious external wall-face was in 1985 thought to be from some kind of round house, and quite a large one at that. In 1998 the Setter Noust site is described as walling indicative of an early structure and tumbled stone, with pot and bone and burnt stone in the extended midden [burnt mound ?]. Where was the Seatter farm, is the obvious question ?
It is certain that there is more prehistory to the area. Balfour Castle is based on an earlier grand house called Cliffdale, and sometime prior to 1796 house-building nearby, close to the site of several failed lead mines, an erdhus came to light out of the blue. The present location of HY41NE 12 is unknown, most likely swallowed up by the much enlarged grounds. Sunk about a yard deep it had a roof of large slabs set on four foot high pillars, also called masonry piers. It comprised twin hexagonal cells, each about 8' across, and a rectangular one. The relative position of the components isn't given and that the latter is described as "as large as both" the hexagonal cells is rather ambiguous.This unusual design is listed as a souterrain. A finger-ring of gold came from this passage.
A little further on there are the lower walls of some mediaeval structure, stones peeking out through the grass to form a rectangle of sorts. Actually, now that I look again, it is in a similar state to the Doo Kirk. Online I found this site called Lady Well. But no wellsprings are show on the 25" map. What is shown is a pump inland, which must be the sub-circular drystane well that the NMRS says could be the well for the chapel site whose legend lies some thirty-five metres to the south. Lady's Kirk, HY41NE 5 at HY47071643, shows no visible signs of being there. However, a gradiometric survey ahead of permission to dig a borehole detected two 11m long parallel lines about 5m apart. Of course with a known pump here could this be a pumphouse using that well ? The Lady Well that I saw could be a small wellpark all the same, but how about it being the chapel instead (and some are built over springs). It strikes me as odd that there were two establishments on this island dedicated to the Lady, so perhaps the dedication
strictly belonged to the well itself or merely attributed later (we have no dedication for the similarly placed Kildinguie in Stronsay).
Coming back on the ferry I see in/against the Balfour Castle wall on this side two more fun towers, both low and each surmounted by a cannon facing seaward. As one is circular and the other hexagonal or octagonal were these defensive or just more follydom ? What I did see is far more interesting than either of these, and as it isn't of a piece with anything else and as such appears to be an earlier house re-used (or else a much later addition knocked about a bit). An image on Geograph calls it a window looking out from the Balfour walled garden, but just inside the grounds the plain reverse of a 1674 gateway towers above it, belaboured with armorials and such on the front - unless I have the wrong perspective I would say the two are too close together, but the gateway faces out to this rather thab to Cliffdale and the castle. It juts out with two angled side framing the wide front and thin slabs for a 'roof'. Its stonework is not the same as the wall. The multi-paned wood-framed window is inset to an arch whose rounded top is formed by red bricks pointing inward. Unfortunately with the 'castle' being of such a late date the red brick doesn't help with chronology. I'd love it to have been the location of a house of course !
The next headland is covered by a mound. Twi Ness rather than meaning twin-ness is said to be tongue-ness as there is no double headland, but the name Point of Dishan can only go as far back as The Douche so could well have been the other half of a Twi Ness (Doocot Point is shown seperately). Makes sense as you would otherwise expect a narrow tongue not what is there in front of you, a rocky circular headland. Atop this HY41NE 19 at HY46761625 is a slightly hollowed 7mD cairn a mere point-six metres high, with an orthostat on the north side that might be, or have been, part of a cist. This upright slab actually runs radial to the mound centre, which sounds like it might be summat else to me, more a divider than an encloser. Anyways it is now a small grassy peak. Are the large stones in the cliff face part of a stoney outcrop on which the mound is placed or placed stone ? If it were one of these then the mound goes deeper than 0.6m or sits on something earlier. Only my guesses.
After this comes a piece of the coastline called Stromberry. Here I and one of the newer Orkney Blide Trust members dallied to photograph the bonnie flowers including some on short plants. There was a lot of dwarf willow in bloom still - I am used to encountering this in spots along cliff edges on coastal paths but here it carpeted the ground in irregular ground-hugging clumps along where water gathered. Can't remember whether it had been before this or when we rejoined the group that I pointed out sets of straight lines slightly uphill of us, the ghost of a run-rig system I think.
Between here and a line through Grukalty and Balfour Mains lies the legend Back of the Ness. The first 25" map shows a Pict's House here. On the 2nd 25" it is formalised as Site of Ancient Dwelling. In 1972 the O.S. could not find this site, HY41NE 4, but in 1984 the Royal Commission found a place where dark earth and a scattering of shell midden comes up under the plough (at HY46961702). If this is the same site could it be part of a settlement, which would explain why the land is didfficult to drain. Difficult to believe the midden is all there was if the identity is correct - in my experience they only put Pict's House on an early map if something of age had been excavated in modern times, usually tombs (like Wideford Hill Cairn) or 'gallery graves' (such as Rennibister souterrain where skulls were found). Outside chance this was the Cliffdale earthhouse. Grukalty is supposedly derived from Agricola, from his voyages around Britain, but the nearby coastal arc called the Furrow of Agricola started life as the Furrow of Grikalty [sic] so one might question how long the traditional identification dates back to. To back up the assertion the finding of Roman coins on Shapinsay is mentioned, but these and other Roman artefacts are found in many places in the Orkneys. The Hillock of Breakna being seen as the Earl's Palace in Orphir is an example of scholarly speculation transforming into a "traditional site of" statement.
The intention had been to go up as far as the Loch and Ayre of Vasa on our circular route. Having gone as far as the Grukalty pier the group leader weren't sure we could do the whole walk, and so we reluctantly headed onto the track to Balfour Mains. I have to confess that I mistook a large pool for the lochan, it is quite big with twa bits o' land in it. Doesn't seem to appear as owt on the maps. Over on the right a small windowless modern structure with a steeply pitched roof sits on a small mound outside the castle grounds. Maybe the mound it barely occupies on is a trick of perspective, otherwise my feeling is it predates the building.
Next to grab my attention, alongside the farmtrack, is what must surely once have been a wellhead. On the 1st 25" it bears the legend "pump trough", by the second there is only a p for pump even though everything survives. Another ornamental piece. Slightly faded but still a grand piece of work in white. In shape it resembles a settee with a drystane back and a long arm out to the left, gently curved and all topped by 'pillow-shaped' stones. At the front are two long orthostats. Behind these is the earthen seat. The iron pump with its handle sits centrally, backed by a short length of much less white wall at 90 degrees topped by a single thick slab. The closest comparison I can make is to the well beside the road along the Stromness Loons.
Whilst I am snapping away the rest of the Blide part are already coming the Balfour Mains itself, a long building which has recently been renovated for a fresh purpose - the new wood window frames stand out.. At the front of the roof is what resembles a small belfry [I have read recently what these structures are actually called, x-tower I think] built with stone blocks the size of bricks, which has later been topped with several courses of different composition. Turning around the corner there are other ornate buildings about the farmyard too. And looking now at the two-storey building from a different angle I see that rather than a flat top the different material is an angled roof to the 'belfry'. There is a large curve-topped archway partway along the side to let a horse-and-cart in (that at Binscarth Farm is on the end. A low short structure joins the end to a single-storey building a little higher that I would have said had been either a school or a chapel - there are several entrances at the front and three ?pediment-projections with a peedie oriel window in the slightly larger central one. The oddest thing is an isolated long stretch of stone-block wall running roadside in front of all. In it are two fairly narrow entrances topped by thin slabs - one's been blocked off by a single vertical slab, the other still gives access to steep stone steps going up to farmyard level. A course below their tops more thin slabs run the length of the wall, a horizonal division with the rest of the wall above topped like the pump trough wall by 'pillow' stones. The slab course minds me on another on the west side of Binscarth Farm, though that is at a higher level and seems to mark where a building was removed to make way for the farm road. It is a shame that as yet Balfour Mains does not really figure on the National Monuments Record or Historic Scotland. There's a pro's photoshoot begging to happen !
Coming down the main road we realised we still had time for a spot more tourism, and so turned left to Elwick aka Ellwick and Ellswick. It would appear that anciently all this part of Shapinsay was named after an Eliander and included the holm - Jo Ben called Helliar Holm by the name Eleorholm and it has been known by several variations of these, such as Ellyar Holm and Elhardholm (I strongly suspect that the intrusive modern haitch is from some outsider thinking this comes from halye 'flat rock'). Though this personal name is said to have been something like Elland or Elland surely in that case the balance of probabilities suggests the Orcadian name Erlend. Shapinsay as a name also has a disputed origin, with the first bit usually seen as another personal name or 'sheep' or 'ship' and the last syllable as either 'island' or perhaps 'hall'. One man thought that Shapinsay is a Saxon name, which I suppose would explain scalpandishay>shapinsay. Scapa, another disputed name, took another route, having once been Scalpa 'isthmus'. Perhaps the last element of Shapinsay is 'isthmus' too, a reference to the Riff that connects the holm to it but now only appears at low tide ?? Throwing my hat in the ring the last element can also be 'howe' or a 'Height' - and mebbe Shapin was a giant/trow ?.
They went to see Shapinsay Pottery inside a converted meal mill. Ellwick Mill only dates from 1883. It is at least as high as the tallest Balfour Main structure and is entered by a gateway with a gently arched top too. But the shop doesn't interest me when there's archaeology about, a lovely lade and a neat water-wheel with its enclosure surviving complete. From there I went to the millpond above the shoreline. Down on the shoreline assorted domestic ducks foraged near the water's edge. Perfect pastoral primacy. Turning back I had a wander inside the enclosed space next to the road where pottery starts, girt by earthen banks and a wall. A comfy place for creation, hidden from the outside. Well, apart from what looks like a long drainpipe on end. This tops a tall narrow column of pale pastel refectory bricks, much of which is encased by a rusty iron framework. Part of a small kiln I thought. Connected to this by twa rusty arms is a squat iron framework housing tightly packed bricks of an even paler hue. Against that is a table with two chairs backed against it, an intriguing tableau (groan). With the flowers in tyres ectetera this is so much nicer than a pottery shop. Just as I was getting going the others arrived for a quick look around, breaking my solitude.
Coming by the school I had time for looking at my final curiosity. The Gas Tower sits just above the shoreline and is made to ape a low wide castle tower complete with wall slits. This antik gasometer surely sits on the site of an old hoose, for built into the fabric are architectural fragments. One of the three bears the date of 1725, taking it back to the time of Cliffdale. Inside is a majestic panorama of towering drystone walling, seperated by thin slabs from an icing of several courses of red sandstone. At the bottom the structure is concrete with a 'walkway' about the circumference. I would like to have stepped down onto the floor if there had been some way to do this. How does its size compare to that earthhouse found digging for a house near Cliffdale, is my thought now. Daydream away.
The splendid gatehouse ceased being the way in a long time ago. Now a long winding road goes by the trees within the grounds of Balfour Castle [hope they are on top of the Robin's Pincushion]. It is a very understated entrance, framed by rectangular pillars with elongated pyramidions, and these in turn framed by the exceptionally tall chimneys at the end of the buildings either side.
Finally came the time for the other purpose of our visit. After an Out and About to which no locals came we fared better with the Reach Out at the Smithy reataurant (pardon pun - I didn't see it coming I swear). Several folk showed up. One of them had been with the Blide some time ago and shared her reminiscences of Orkney Blide Trust's beginnings. Again the owners put on a fine spread ; cakelets to tease the tastebud and lovely lilies to feast the eye upon. And up on the wall lovely boutique clock caught my attention.
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EASTSIDE, SOUTH RONALDSAY September 11th 2013
Coming to St Margaret's Hope (from Kirkwall) instead of turning down into the main body of the place go a little further and by the war memorial, barely outside The Hope turn left at the junction. On reaching a crossroads continue on over and down past Wheems terraced Campsite. Just past Weemys (sic) the Sorquoy Standing Stone, fourteen foot high, can be seen on partway along a field boundary on your left. NMRS record no. ND49SE 3 at ND46919140 once stood bigger, reported as sixteen feet high in 1805 so perhaps reduced by replaced soil exploratory digging in the following decades (though standing stones are apt to change their exposed height over the tears - some gain, some lose - making the identification of lesser specimens occasionally hit and miss). Three foot from the present base it's 2'6" broad and 18" deep, with a maximum thickness being 21~22" above that height. No mention is made of the projection on the top which reminds one that the Stonehenge trilithons are seen as using woodwork
techniques and that it is now seen that the original Wessex influence came from Orkney. This stone has been postulated as the one referred to in regards to the ?souterrain ND49SE 13 found near Manse, so at ~ND473915. This is described in an 1875 work as a two-foot wide underground stucture having a fine floor of water-worn stone and measuring 11' long and 2'6" high. Nearby was a stone, in height 11'. So not Sorquoy. However, whilst the Sorquoy stone is up on the bottom of a scarf slope the Papar Project were told of another standing stone closer to the shore, unfortunately de-stabilised by post-war drainage work. There are other such passages known as having been in proximity to standing stones, Near the Yinstay cairn in St Andrew's for instance is an equally little recorded one (stone one now). The Blide mini-bus parked by the kirkyard. At one time they intended to develop the land about it, only to discover this area to be fair riddled with archaeology just under the turf.
Whilst the others walked the sandy beach on this Bay of Newark I did a photographic tour around the outside of the kirkyard. Certainly lots underfoot between the shore and the two southern sides. Coming through the 'gateway' right of the wall towards Kirkhouse Point are two upstanding structures, one a roofless building with what looks like a low-walled garden the other a conical stone cairn. The latter is the base for a post-mill type windmill, ND49SE 18 ND4710190745. The former appears on the 1st O.S.
with the name Millhouse, but ND49SE 38 at ND47089078 had been the storehouse for an 18th century fisher - a stone dated 177 comes from there. Seen from here here it looks two-storey, but it is built on a slope and the 'attic' is reached by stone steps at the back. First I walked around the coastline. Here, right by the edge, there is a large deep hollow masked by vegetation Then what had seemed a random stone assemblage from a distance resolved itself into three lines of large stones, some dresssed. I assume these were the boat nausts, though overly straight-sided to my mind, but later read about seven mortared walls that were supports for a wharf, so perhaps these are them eroded further since 1997 - this inlet itself is thought to have been touched by the hand of man. At the inter-tidal end a shag sat mere metres from me. On this side of the point there are three hand-operated boat winches, of which one has the remains of a wood frame. The storehouse outside has been turned into a sort of patio and the enclosure is now a walled garden for real. Of course it is now locked and barred. There are two reclaimed benches. The shorter of the two has an ornate back inset with huge sunflowers in fretwork. Next in my itinerary is the windmill base. The question that occurs to me is was there also a 'proper' mill nearby, now under the turf or is Millhouse simply a name given to the storehouse simply from proximity to the post-mill ?
Probably the right place in my journey to say what lies beneath, or at least is suspected to from the 2007 field visit ahead of planning permission. West of the kirkyard is a sand quarry (alternatively sand dune) at ND470908 which has a wall and midden at the north end and, more importantly, structures accompanied by occupation layers at the south. There is a length of curving wall at the kirkyard's east side at ND4712790892 and to the north-east at ND4716490920 a low turf-covered mound of some kind. Only little further along the coast there is a mound on the storm beach which appears heavily quarried at the south-east. ND49SE 16 at ND47249084, aligned NE/SW and measuring some 17m by 10m roughly, is traditionally a burial ground. Because of the presence within of a similarly aligned orthostat,only 0.9m long and projecting 0.6m, and two more on the west margin in 1973 the visiting O.S. raised the possibility of its being a chambered mound. Another visit in 1981 had the O.S. discount this. Unfortunately in 2007 the mound's slabs could not be found. There are other structures and some orthostats in the vicinity. The presence of a likely kelp-pit means any more ancient remains were probably destroyed during the kelp boom.
Behind the kirkyard at Kirkhouse Point is the Millenium Stone, decorated all the way around like a standing stone totem pole – I’d much rather have a replica of the Pictish symbol stone that once resided on a church windowsill !! There was WWII activity at the east side, though the ground is a little damp. I couldn't spot the searchlight remains recorded as being "immediately" NE of the kirkyard wall, all I saw was a concrete floor with its divisions being crowded out by invasive grass and a recent mound (well away from the wall and IIRC three-sides with an open-end, so agriculural I suspect. As well as the searchlight emplacement ND49SE 54 had been the site of three huts and several likely machine-gun posts. But I did find a personal reminder in a block of concrete resembling a mooring-point. On top it has engraved RKHOUSE with curlicues top and bottom, though on a photo there may be other words badly eroded. It doesn't strike me as official, buth then again it is no scribble or idle doodle. Nice. A noisy flock of birds were inside the kirkyard, then a few sat temptingly on the wall to provide only enough photos to know they were worth the effort ! Then the flock flew down into the grassland about me. Only time I saw them was when I disturbed them - why do birds fly up when they are invisible to you ? We have two dates for North Kirk set in stone above the seaward door, 1642 and 1801. I would think the renovation came about through money from the fishery. Another name for it is St Peter's Church, and a year after its building the presbytery burned a wooden effigy of the saint - did this come from an ealier kirk on the site or had this been a re-location ? It has been remarked that this is an anomalous location for a Peterkirk, there being no broch nearby. However there is that short wall
arc, and there is the mysterious Danes Fort eastwards.
At last came the time for me to catch up to the others. In the mid-60s Mr. A.Laughton of Kirkhouse had reason to cut into a sandy knoll (the intention being to enlarge his farmyard) and on reaching a depth of some six feet came across bones in what he thought to be a stone coffin. Before uncovering any more of it he simply put the soil back, well enough that it could not be found by investigators forty years later. The track to the beach is cut deep, and above it there is what strikes me as a rather long mound with stones poking through near the top (ND469908). Coming near the bottom end I found definite walling, with a corner including a fine long stone. Gaining height the other side of a short stream I could see a rectangular mound that used to be a walled structure abutting my corner it seemed to me. On the 1st O.S. there is another building south of the present set of Kirkhouse buildings. I eventually found a record for this, it being shown at the farm's other end on PASTMAP ! ND49SE 68 at ND4689190963 is described as a drystone structure with a corn-kiln's remain attached (this shown on the 2nd 25" O.S.). Also mentioned are indications of further archaeology below ground. On a satellite image the eye of faith sees a possible circular enclosure. But that could just be the track's effect I suppose.
Attention diverted again, almost as soon as I started along the Bay of Newark my companions were coming back. Tried to walk faster but the sands suck you in. So trudging along where small plants at the edge provide more grip. The next burn along is more of a normal size and does come with a name, though my guess is that Stromispuil comes from there having been a drained pool above the strand. If puil means pool that is, though certainly Stromisuil is attached to a drain section on the 1st O.S. To avoid Sheena's dog Star charging me as I photographed my fellow travellers I stayed on the near side of the burn. She was unable to fathom that it she could just go round. So being scared of water she spent several minutes searching for a way over before throwing in the towel and jumping almost cleanly over a shallow section. Ailsa simply loves the water. She went so far out a new member thought she wouldn't come back ! Over the months this has increasingly irked Star, who stands on the shore barking like mad. Didn't take long enough to get back to the mini-bus.
As we started going uphill I could see a mound the colour of hay three fields north-east of the initial bend. A long time ago this was either on the margin of a shallow lochan or actually in it. If the latter I would bet on it being the islet one presumes gave its name to the Papley district of South Ronaldsay. I know there is a well in close proximity, but then brochs in similar positions had them too. The Kirk Ness mound, ND49SE 7 at ND47289130, is an example of a site with changing opinions. Traditionally it is a 'Danish' Fort, but last century they opined the remains were simply the homes of fishermen, which is some turnabout in fortunes. And now the locals are back to the ancient edifice viewpoint again - you can't simply ask any old locals, you need to ask locals with long ties to the land you are investigating. Like The Cairns at Eyreland/Ireland (another "Danish Fort") copious stones have been removed from this greened stony knoll at some time. In 1929 structural remains coul still be detected, but being slight were not found in 1973. This vaguely circular mound stands 2m high and is about 30m across. On the other side of the former lochan appears to have been a burnt mound, ND49SE 15 at ND47169119, as Mr Laughton often turned up black earth and burnt stone in large amounts whilst ploughing. Fancifully I think on the Wasbister burnt mound and the disc barrow on the same side of the Dyke of Seean in Stenness. Very fancifuly I'm sure.
Sheena had been keeping off chocolate until Kirsty, the new member, mentioned that by the track to the Italian Chapel the Orkney Wine folk have a peedie shop selling wines and related comestibles – you can even try a nip or two. As we had a look around I found myself sorely tempted by the chutneys, and the jams even more so. Have to plead poverty over deliciousness. Fortunately back in the minibus Kirsty gave us some to sample. Coming into St Ola a thick mist came down, horrible haar obscuring the verges. The road overlooks Scapa Flow of course, but anywhere in Orkney you are no further from the sea than seven miles, no great distance for a rolling fog (though this wasn't that dense, more of a mist like I said).
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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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