

Ring and South Knowe viewed from Unstan Tomb – probably coincidence that two of the remaining stones appear to frame the latter
In 1880 there is a reference to the close proximty to Mine Howe of “Lang Howe, Round Howe, Stoney Howe, Stem Howe and Chapel”, from which I take Stoney Howe to be the burnt mound near Breck
Having noticed photographically that a line from the Barnhouse Stone through Maeshowe passes on to the Setter tumuli below Sordon (NMRS record no.HY31NW 14 at HY34581544 & 34631543, to whit two Bronze Age burial mounds) I wondered about the relative position of the Ke(i)thesgeo stone (HY31SW 41 at HY30351136). Pencilling in the position of the stake showing its former position onto a 1:25,000 map a line passes from it through Maeshowe to the Setter barrows, though missing out the Barnhouse Stone rather. Makes a useful backstop up on the Clouston hillside.

Maes Howe ‘in front’ of Ring of Brodgar and mounds (left), taken from Germiston road with 520mm equivalent [optical zoom on digital camera]

Maes Howe ‘in front’ of Ring of Brodgar and Fresh Knowe (bottom right), taken from Scuan on Germiston road with 520mm equivalent [optical zoom on digital camera]

taking photo of Barnhouse Stone aligned with centre of Maes Howe noticed the field boundary coming straight down Syra Dale. This means the alignment continues to the Setter tumuli in the neighbouring parish of Firth
If they want to know how the slate roof was put together they could do worse than look at the farm buildings. Not the usual form or fashion but tall trapezoid slates laid in even more elongated trapezoid columns with narrow and wide ends alternating along the roof.

Either collapsed or deliberately demolished..
bit.ly/ccv00C
Painted walls found Friday, a first for Britain and perhaps northern Europe.
orkneycommunities.co.uk/radioorkney.asp
from 9 or 10 a.m. 27th July to approx 8 a.m. 28th July 2010.
Before visiting the site Orkneyjar’s Ness of Brodgar weblong has essential links to fuly detailed diagrams of the 2010 trenches and 2010 structures



cairn looking S across small ‘lochs’ and monuments to Bigswel






stones in W side of central portion with tape out to 1m
NMRS record no. HY21SE 19 is a small mound of earth and stones on the SE slope of the hill between the Ring of brodgar and Bookan farm which has/had a stone setting around the base. Its present dimensions of ~8m diameter by 0.6m high accords well with those of 27’ diameter and 18” high reported in 1946, meaning little or no erosion has happened since.
It can be seen by the northern fence of the field that also holds the Wasbister ‘disc barrow’ and the Bookan Cairn settlement (as well as a possible burnt mound by the pow/lochan). From below it appears as a bright green grassy mound on the hill’s SE slope skyline. Only a few yards away is a very rough mound. From some views the ragged mound is so big that this and the cairn could even possibly be a single item subjected to different fates at E and W. But I only found a single flat stone on the whole of the mound’s surface. I make the cairn round with a diameter varying from 6.4-6.5m, which is several feet short of the recorded 8m/27’. Though there are some loose stones around the base there are no signs that these have ever been embedded. But even sans stone setting my eyes thought there might be a cropmark ‘ring’ about the cairn of roughly the right size.



view of site from main road with north mound at left, south at right

view of site from main road with north mound at left, south at right
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21SE 26, located on the south side of the Lyking road junction at Voy, now consists of two mounds at HY25351496 & 7. A likely cist slab was found at the centre of the N mound but the later discovery of burnt material led to its present designation. It is a metre high, its companion slighter at 0.7m, but the centre would also be the centre of a mound incorporating both present mounds – the two stone blocks at the N side most likely having come from the unrecorded excavation of a site similar to Hawell burnt mound say





near LH quadrant seen from passage, with skull niche behind ladder and S pillar where rest found [left side here]



