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<< Our Photo Pages >> Sower Castle - Ancient Village or Settlement in Scotland in Orkney

Submitted by howar on Tuesday, 03 August 2021  Page Views: 416

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Sower Castle Alternative Name: Castle of Sooer, Hillock of Hoose-ha
Country: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 2.585 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Orkney Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Stromness  Nearest Village: Stenness
Map Ref: HY29400620
Latitude: 58.937201N  Longitude: 3.228353W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Sower Castle
Sower Castle submitted by howar : exposed material (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Village or Settlement in Orkney

RCAHMS NMRS record no.HY20NE 5
Close to the shore on the north side of the Sower Road is a large unopened mound of earth and stones which the Name Book states locals called an old castle and appears on the 25" as a castle site. By 1928 it was known locally as the "Hillock of Hoose-ha" and a visit by the commission records "traces of a large indeterminate structure". Nowadays thought to be a settlement mound, it is roughly rectangular - some 24m E/W by 19m - and about 2m high. No walling has been seen but stone is exposed in places around the periphery and cairn-like material shows in two "mutilations" at the centre.

Coming down the road I first thought it to be the large mound I saw first, but this is a Great War battery. Further downhill a slightly lower mound is the castle A few have proposed this a a possible broch, but it lacks the usual outline. There was a cow with calf in the field and so I contented myself with photos taken with my ultrazoom camera. Fortunately this showed me two of the exposures of mound material. And it appears to me that there are two levels to the mound. Probably nothing, but I was minded on of one of the mounds in the site of The Cairns up the coast at Ireland. This too had been given a military designation, that of 'Danish fort'. Whence came Hoose-ha ? Perhaps some modern fancied it as being a house platform 'house hall' ? Likely to remain an enigma forever and a day.
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Sower Castle
Sower Castle submitted by howar : more exposed material with possible small slabs at right (Vote or comment on this photo)

Sower Castle
Sower Castle submitted by howar : site from downhill (Vote or comment on this photo)

Sower Castle
Sower Castle submitted by howar : coming level with (Vote or comment on this photo)

Sower Castle
Sower Castle submitted by howar : first sighting (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
HY2906 : Buttercup fields above the shore by Gordon Hatton
by Gordon Hatton
©2021(licence)
HY2906 : Low tide, Clestrain by Lis Burke
by Lis Burke
©2006(licence)
HY2906 : Upper Sower by Gordon Hatton
by Gordon Hatton
©2021(licence)
HY2905 : Sower View by Derek Mayes
by Derek Mayes
©2011(licence)
HY3006 : Buttercup meadow by Dyke Farm and view to Hoy beyond by Colin Park
by Colin Park
©2020(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 3.7km N 354° The Cairns* Cairn (HY29050987)
 4.0km NW 312° Quoyelsh* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY265089)
 4.0km NNW 346° Corn Hillock* Cairn (HY28481015)
 4.3km ESE 118° Harproo* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY33190413)
 4.4km NNW 343° Cummi Howe* Broch or Nuraghe (HY282104)
 4.4km ESE 112° Orphir Round Church* Class I Pictish Symbol Stone (HY3349604429)
 4.8km ESE 107° Gyre* Barrow Cemetery (HY340047)
 5.0km NNW 338° Howe Chambered Tomb* Chambered Tomb (HY276109)
 5.2km E 101° Konger's Knowe* Artificial Mound (HY34460513)
 5.5km N 8° Standing Stones Hotel* Chambered Cairn (HY30251165)
 5.5km SW 232° Quoyness, Greenhill Broch* Broch or Nuraghe (HY25000284)
 5.6km WNW 303° Haley Hole Well (Brownstown) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (HY2477609314)
 5.6km NNW 348° Unstan* Chambered Cairn (HY28291172)
 5.7km NNW 347° Diamond Cottage* Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle (HY28211176)
 6.0km NNW 338° Deepdale Stones* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY272118)
 6.0km E 100° Hillock of Breakna* Broch or Nuraghe (HY35330508)
 6.0km E 100° The Hillock of Breakna Ancient Village or Settlement (HY35330508)
 6.0km WNW 291° Warebeth* Chambered Tomb (HY238085)
 6.2km NNW 333° Deepdale Cottages* Standing Stones (HY267118)
 6.2km NNE 16° Barnhouse Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY31271217)
 6.3km E 87° Graystane* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY35700638)
 6.3km E 87° Highbreck* Hillfort (HY35700640)
 6.4km SW 231° Whiteglen Standing Stone Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY24350221)
 6.4km N 10° Stenness* Stone Circle (HY30671252)
 6.5km ESE 106° Toy Ness* Artificial Mound (HY35600429)
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"Sower Castle" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Sower by Anne T on Tuesday, 03 August 2021
(User Info | Send a Message)
Thanks for the new site and photos, howar!

For more information about this site, read: Canmore ID 1525 [Canmore refers to it as a cairn, but also as a 'castle' and a 'hoose'].

For more information about the First World War Coastal Battery howar refers to, see Canmore ID 81746.
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