wideford

On Rose Ness there is a structure similar to the Covenanters Memorial in Deerness, a tall beacon. This is the site of a horned cairn, ~46m long, that may be similar to the likes of the Vestrafiold cairn – a turf ridge ‘tail’ running to the SW not only has much stone but also several orthostats perpendicular to the length that might indicate a box construction similar to Vestrafiold’s. Probable horns appear to be at the NE end, with perhaps similar traces at the other end. The 1867 beacon sits at the head end on a circular stoney platform. This foot high platform is probably modified cairn material. During construction a well preserved adult skeleton was found in the ‘rubbish’ and then, apart from a few bones the workers kept, put back “entombed under the refuse” (this could have been from a later period of course).
This is a much reduced mound, so could the beacon platform be the remains of a round cairn inserted like at the Head of Work horned cairn over in St.Ola ??

RCAHMS record no. HY30SE 9 – the Toy Ness designation covers part of the headland, from which four coastal sites were described in 1998. These can be distinguished from one another – inland are many obscured grassy mounds that (IIRC) to run into one other. The 4 are separated from the WWII radio mast remains by a marshy bit, but are closer than you’d gather from HES map. You could walk down the Swanbister Road and then from the Hillock of Breakna along the Bay of Swanbister, but this depends more on the tides (the Piggar farmtrack is often closed for livestock). Much simpler to approach from The Breck – from Orphir ‘village’ take the road to the Bu of Orphir and as you come to the Gyre junction take the road signed Breck and turn left at the coastline.
i) The first mound is 5mD by 0.5m high and stands slightly back from the coast edge, where under a foot of peat there is 8m exposed of a concentration of stone which an 2015 survey declared structural. ii) 25m to the south is a mound about the same size. iii) 5m from that, is one the same height but a slightly larger 5.5mD and only a metre from the coast edge. RCAHMS reported structural stone in rabbit scrapes and in the adjacent coastal exposure, but the survey did not find this and thought these remains might have been natural bedrock. 17 years is a long time with Orkney’s weather. iv) 25m further south and 6m from the coast edge is a 7m by 5m oval mound with traces of a perimeter bank outside of it. Pitting in the middle could have come from an early dig.

Site visited 17/9/2017. From the pier turn left and go down onto the shore by the Balfour Gatehouse and it is a reasonably short walk. Site is very close to the Lady Well, which I assume has undergone re-use as a lime kiln after the early maps showing its position if they are the same site