wideford

In the 16th century Jo Ben speaking of Stenhouse ( Stenness ) says “There on a little hill near to the lake , in a tomb , was found the bones of a man , which indeed were connected together , in length 14 foot as the author affirmed , and money was found under the head of the dead man , and indeed I viewed the tomb” . After going over the ground with CANMAP (leaving my Harray Viewpoint out )find that a stone coffin was discovered at this site long enough ago that the object has disappeared .

More info, fieldnotes, folklore, sites etc. can be found as Paul Bennett’s comment on Grubstones PID 2566 over on The Megalithic Portal as of yesterday.

ArchSearch shows a Jepson’s Gate Cairn at SD6217 threatened by erosion , possibly Bronze Age .

Despite the alternative name this site is (only just) beyond the Unstan chambered cairn . Shown on the map as a fort and on CANMORE as a scheduled defended promontory (NMRS record no. HY21SE 22 at HY28211176). But rather than a promontory fort it is simply described as a promontory earthwork which might be an example of “Scandinavian ness-taking” . Best surviving on the E side it says , a causeway on the NE corner marking the entrance . The centre having been destroyed by cultivation I see no reason for it not to have had pre-Norse uses e.g. broch or other settlement .CANMAP for some reason places it in the loch !

Site doesn’t appear on English Heritage’s Pastscape site at all , from which it would appear to have been un-scheduled either pre- or post-’vandalism’ .

Nearby is the Wolf Fold SAM at SE044182 , which is well known . These are more difficult but are a Scheduled Ancient Monument SE01NW 9 at SE048187, a Bronze Age cairnfield consisting of at least seven cairns , all but two ploughed flat .

On pastscape.org English Heritage have it down as either Bronze Age round barrow or a windmill mound . It is Scheduled Ancient Monument no. 34701 .

RCAHMS NMRS record no. NS97SE 17 has this site at NS991739 and it is now put down to a shattered glacial boulder with the nearby circles as merely erratics . Of course they could be wrong .

ArchSearch actually gives two Iron Age hillforts as Ranscombe Camp , only with a 4-figure grid reference that gives a km latitude ( TQ4309 sic ) . These are EHNMR-626257 excavated in 1878 and EHNMR-626966 in 1959-60 . yeoldesussexpages.co.uk/history/historic.htm gives us a probable stock enclosure !

Going on past St.Margaret’s Hope you almost reach Burwick at the tip before finding the turning for the Tomb of the Eagles on the left . Never been there yet , but it is the place to go for a real sense of ancient family . This is also one of those archaeological sites that we would not have in all their glory if it had not been for the enterprising curiosity of a native Orcadian . Even emergency excavations often owe more to their location skills in the first place than the reports show .

RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21NE 9 bears out my comparisons as they have a two-foot gap at the top leading down to a 1.5m high beehive cell that is equated with the well at the Broch of Gurness. And over the fence t’other side o’ road is described a curving subterranean passage 800x800mm and at least 2.5m long (souterrain but not a souterrain?).

In a talk at Orkney College the archaeologist Nick Card said that when he walked along the associated ridge it isn’t until you reach the Ring of Bookan that you finally see down into the Brodgar peninsula , and that it was being suggested that it was placed here as the demarcation between a settlement behind it and the sacred monuments below .
I now think his remarks actually refered to the Bookan chambered tomb further down .

Geophysics has shown that the stone pointed out as this originally had a companion stone .

Did a little digging on the RCAHMS website and the only stone circle listed in Auchterhouse parish is Templelands at NO3536, but it does say that it was removed during railroad excavations. It is an odd coincidence that the entry refers one to the Templelands cists at NO357361 and the circle on TMA as Auchterhouse is in such close proximity to the BalKello cists. So my guess is that when the Templemeads stone circle was removed it was brought here and re-erected in a similar setting to the original. Or not.

ADS Record ID – NSMR03-4479 : NU13801125 with cup and 6 cups in domino pattern , NU138111 discovered 1973 3pairs shallow cups .

RCAHMS NMRS No. HY22SW 13 . Between these and Bryameadow farm lies HY22SE 25 (HY25382263). Though all that is left of now are a few scattered large stones the Hill of Yonbell was formerly two small flagstone cells connected by a narrow passageway .

RCAHMS NMRS No. HY53NE 3

RCAHMS NMRS No. HY53NE 2

RCAHMS NMRS No. HY53NE 18

RCAHMS NMRS No. HY22 NW1 at HY2241 1678

Some of the broch shows on pictures of the settlement

Once going there I undertook the steep climb to the nearest portion of the bare hill on the other side of the road from the castle itself. Despite the meagre evidence about me I could not shake the feeling that this was the prior site in this vicinity, only later being purposely slighted by the building of Corfe Castle opposite. I too felt the presence of giants two, only mine were lying down head to head chatting, their bodies going down the respective hills .