Wasbister Cairn, NMRS record no. HY21SE 19 at HY28811397, is a small mound of earth and stones on the SE slope of the hill between the Ring of Brodgar and Bookan farm, by the top end of the fence from the road. There was a stone setting around the base and its present dimensions of ~8mD by 0.6m high accords well with 27x1.5’ then (though I make it vary 6.4-6.5m across, giving some idea of the annular ring’s dimensions).
Wasbister Mound, RCAHMS record no. HY21SE 20 at HY28961378. is a possible burnt mound 6mD by 0.3m high (I only made out 5m across and measuring from lowest point of immediately surrounding land 0.6m high) close to a “small loch” and roughly 100 yards E of the ‘disc barrow’.
wideford
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21SE 9 consists of two cairns at HY28591427 and 28601422, both N/S aligned, with no finds known. Call them i) and ii) I shall. In 1880 i) measured six feet high and some fifty feet across, being almost sub-rectangular, now it is down as a grassy N/S oval 23.7m by 15.7m and 1.7m high of many small stones having a slight depression in its top. Item ii) was described as eighty feet around and four-and-a-half high, now is an oval 20.6m by 15.7m varying from 2.5m high on the uphill side to only 1m on the downhill side – not what you would expect from a level mound on a hillside. At its centre many small stones are exposed in a not quite circular depression some 6mD. Could the basin of burnt ?soapstone [HY21SE 44] found in 1926 have come from this vicinity ?
In the 16thC Jo Ben saw the complete skeleton of an alleged 14’ giant who had been found in a tomb on a small hill near the loch of Stenhouse, with coins beneath his head [presumably Viking], and I wonder if this relates to the “stone coffin” the 1880 ONB records on being found on an eminence described as being “thrown [up] by the Brecks” 1/4 mile S of Bookan and almost 1/2 mile SW of Bockan. Usually for coffin one should read long cist. The cairn looked to be a smaller version of Skae Frue so there must have been something distinctive they then both held in common, most likely a large robbed depression in the centre. Unfortunately no such site exists now [or there was a reluctance to identify it with a recognised site] so the best guess is that it should be identified with a mound on the other side of a defunct farm track from HY21SE 9 ii) which merges with the quarry’s E side [could the quarry have ‘swallowed up’ the actual site if this was not it ?]. RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21SE 24 at HY28571426 is some 13mD and like the cairn over the way is higher on the uphill side, varying from 1.7m to 0.8m [could they sit in a larger depression that perhaps preceded the quarry ??]
from the valley floor these are almost as omnipresent as the Bookan Tomb [to its right on the skyline though actually further uphill] although closer to the hill their bases are hidden. They lie next to the quarry, the track to which is just over the west fence next the tomb. Unfortunately the diarrhoea pills failed to work so foiled again – Brodgar has no toilets anywhere !
the three Wadbister cairns, HY21SE 9 & 24, as seen from the valley floor
Image credit: wideford
cairns at left, possible N equivalent to Dyke of Sean right [though bank part of hillside]
Image credit: wideford
northwards across top to show possible possible stone axis
Image credit: wideford
top of northern ‘half’ looking very approx. NE – mostly depression with small humps at centre
Image credit: wideford
view westwards across mound and bank at northern side
Image credit: wideford
tomb from behind the excavation scar (rough grass right) – is the view all mound or is the tomb set back into natural ?
Image credit: wideford
looking along top of excavation scar from inside field looking to Lochview
Image credit: wideford
tomb’s excavation scar viewed from northern end of roadside section of mound
Image credit: wideford
seen from Brodgar farm showing great variation in level of ring
Image credit: wideford
lit strikingly from behind this is how they looked originally I guess
Image credit: wideford
they really shone so brightly, where’s yer dark and somber monoliths now [no editing but cropping]
Image credit: wideford
seen from kirk junction. I feel folk would have been more impressed by the bank across their vision as they approached
Image credit: wideford
odd bumps N of Comets Stone mound (L of image) are low linear feature headed for the west half of it
Image credit: wideford
brilliant light this week on underwater ‘stepping stones’ running from by NE end of Brodgar bridge diagonally – is this the alleged causeway, if so it looks more headed towards the Barnhouse settlement
Image credit: wideford
The chambered tomb mound can be seen on 2 photos in “Current Archaeology” April 2010 article on Ness of Brodgar : p.12 behind house, p.15 behind Lochview stones [if these were part of an avenue between the stone circles it would have to be fairly sinuous to go around the mound]
view from north looking to Salt Knowe with Dyke of Sean running across midground
Image credit: wideford
slightly uphill view of western side, southern half is tail end right
Image credit: wideford
Still think this could be a much denuded Taing of Beeman like settlement even though the possible dividing orthostats run across the mound apparently on the edge of the southern half rather than strictly in-between. Definitely a game of two very different halves. Backing up from the northern edge of the ‘upper’ half to take it in I found that I seemed to be stepping back along some kind of small ‘causeway’ leading up to it. This half consists mostly of a circular depression with a few relaxed stones about it, whereas the southern half has a rather level top with several definite orthostats. Thinking of the Beeman settlement and how it was mistaken for a broch from the air I wondered if the now demoted ‘disc barrow’ nearby might not be still more settlement [with the bank meant to keep the inhabitants out of the myre].