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<< Our Photo Pages >> Quoyness Barrow - Chambered Cairn in Scotland in Orkney

Submitted by Castawaycouple on Sunday, 14 December 2003  Page Views: 11338

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Quoyness Barrow
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Chambered Cairn
 Nearest Village: Overbister
Map Ref: HY67663779  Landranger Map Number: 5
Latitude: 59.225478N  Longitude: 2.568348W
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
5 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.
4 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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DrewParsons Redfun have visited here

Quoyness
Quoyness submitted by castawaycouple : Quoyness Barrow, Sanday, Orkney. Visit Orkneys Megaliths you choose where you want to go!!! (Vote or comment on this photo)
Chambered Cairn in Orkney

A neolithic tomb whose use goes back to at least 2900BC. The low entrance passage leads into a high central chamber with six side cells leading off it. The first excavators, in 1867, found skulls and bones from about 15 people who had been buried in the main chamber in four of the side-cells and in the entrance passage. The excavators also found a large polished bone pin and two polished slate objects, all similar to objects found at Skara Brae.

Close by is the eroded mound of Egmondshowe which appears to have been another chambered tomb. Eleven mounds, connected by a bank, form an arc around it. One of these mounds when excavated, revealed two cists with human bones. On the opposite side of the low flat promontory of Elsness are at least 26 burial cairns, which are likely to be from the Bronze Age. Specific interest tours by Orkney4x4Tours@aol.com http://hometown.aol.co.uk/castawaycouple/myhomepage/tours.html

Additional information submitted by Drew Parsons September 2010:
James Farrer (who also excavated the Holm of Papa Westray North) excavated this site in 1867, leaving most of the bones he discovered in the chamber. The site was re-excavated in 1951-52 by Gordon Childe who rebuilt the cairn to show the stages of its construction rather than its final form. The original passage was some 9 metres long but is now truncated to three and a half metres, the first section being left as a stone lined trench. The gate to the passage was unlocked in September 2010 when I visited. The wonderful main chamber is a corbelled room some 4 metres by 2 metres and 4 metres high with 6 side chambers all wonderfully constructed and with corbelled roofs. There is a circular hole inside the chamber with a trench running away from it, both dated to the same era as the original construction of around 2900 BC. I took around 40 minutes to walk to the site from the airfield, although with a car one could drive to within a kilometre of the cairn and walk along the coastal footpath from the car park there. This is a major site by world standards and thoroughly recommended.
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Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The site seen from the south. September 2010. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The entrance, now cut back and exposed so that the covered passage is half its original length. September 2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The cairn as seen when approching from the north along the footpath. The cairn would have originally been covered by an earth mound, its excavators have left the outside exposed to show its construction design. September 2010. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by ShamrockStone : Quoyness (Vote or comment on this photo)

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by ShamrockStone (Vote or comment on this photo)

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The site seen from the north illustrating its proximity to the coast. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : Some of the perimeter stones outside the cairn. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by Orcadian-Images : by Orcadian Images

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by durhamnature : Plan of the barrow, from "Scotland in Pagan Times" via archive.org

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : Interesting cup type markings on one of the stones inside the main chamber. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : View across the main chamber to a side chamber with the channel which runs from the circular depression shown too. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : Looking down on the circular recess in the main chamber which dates from the same time as the cairn ie 2900 BC. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The entrance into one of the side chambers. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The wonderful corbelling in a side chamber. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : A view into one of the side chambers. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The main chamber with the circular recess cut into the floor. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The wonderful corbelled Maes Howe style chamber: 4 metres long, 2 metres wide and 4 metres high. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The passage. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The entrance to the passage, now half way down its original length. The gate was unlocked in September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The interesting side recess at the start of the passage. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The informative site sign. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : The site plane. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by DrewParsons : Detail from the site sign showing the unusual stones found at the site. September 2010.

Quoyness Barrow
Quoyness Barrow submitted by Orcadian-Images : by Orcadian Images

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 260m S 184° Augmund Howe* Cairn (HY67643753)
 339m SSW 193° Els Ness Megalithic Cemetery* Barrow Cemetery (HY67583746)
 3.3km E 87° Broch of Wasso Broch or Nuraghe (HY70923794)
 3.4km NE 56° Tresness Bronze Age Village* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY7048939660)
 3.4km NNE 17° Meur Burnt Mound* Artificial Mound (HY6870541013)
 3.4km E 95° Tresness Cairn* Chambered Cairn (HY71093747)
 3.5km E 86° Hangie Head Broch or Nuraghe (HY712380)
 4.1km NW 326° Marygarth Manse Broch or Nuraghe (HY654412)
 5.7km W 266° Braehowar Broch or Nuraghe (HY620374)
 7.4km WSW 250° Loth Road Bronze Age Structure Ancient Village or Settlement (HY6067635354)
 7.4km N 355° Stone of Scar* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (HY6708345185)
 11.1km SSW 196° Oram's Fancy Cists* Cist (HY64502718)
 11.1km W 266° Mill Loch* Cairn (HY56513702)
 11.2km W 266° Stone of Setter* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY56453718)
 11.2km W 268° Fold of Setter* Misc. Earthwork (HY56423750)
 11.3km W 268° Braeside* Chambered Cairn (HY56333757)
 11.3km W 275° Carrick House* Chambered Cairn (HY56363880)
 11.4km W 269° Huntersquoy* Chambered Cairn (HY56263773)
 11.5km WSW 256° Eday Heritage Centre* Museum (HY56403515)
 11.6km W 271° Vinquoy* Chambered Cairn (HY56013809)
 12.3km W 277° Linkertaing* Chambered Cairn (HY55393937)
 12.4km WSW 249° Eday Church Chambered Cairn* Chambered Cairn (HY56043344)
 13.8km SW 230° Green (Eday)* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY5697128987)
 14.3km SW 233° Southside (Eday)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY56152922)
 14.7km SSW 203° Hillock of Baywest Broch or Nuraghe (HY61902425)
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"Quoyness Barrow" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Quoyness Barrow by ShamrockStone on Thursday, 12 April 2018
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Quoyness Chambered Cairn
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Quoyness Barrow (and Quanterness) forensic reports of human remains by AngieLake on Friday, 10 June 2016
(User Info | Send a Message)
Forensic studies of Quanterness and Quoyness barrows' human remains are reported in the press today:
Quote:
"Ancient Orkney islanders ripped flesh from dead relatives, chopped up their bodies and mixed them in mass graves in grisly ritual

Study of human remains on Orkney has found chop and scrape marks
Archaeologists believe they are evidence of ritual dismemberment
Remains of relatives may have been hacked apart limb from limb
May have been done to remove their identity as individuals because dead ancestors were regarded as a collective group"


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3633135/Grisly-Stone-Age-pits-Orkney-islanders-chopped-dead-relatives-mixing-mass-graves.html#ixzz4B86LiKwU
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Quoyness Barrow by DrewParsons on Monday, 18 October 2010
(User Info | Send a Message)
James Farrer (who also excavated the Holm of Papa Westray North) excavated this site in 1867, leaving most of the bones he discovered in the chamber. The site was re-excavated in 1951-52 by Gordon Childe who rebuilt the cairn to show the stages of its construction rather than its final form. The original passage was some 9 metres long but is now truncated to three and a half metres, the first section being left as a stone lined trench. The gate to the passage was unlocked in September 2010 when I visited. The wonderful main chamber is a corbelled room some 4 metres by 2 metres and 4 metres high with 6 side chambers all wonderfully constructed and with corbelled roofs. There is a circular hole inside the chamber with a trench running away from it, both dated to the same era as the original construction of around 2900 BC. I took around 40 minutes to walk to the site from the airfield, although with a car one could drive to within a kilometre of the cairn and walk along the coastal footpath from the car park there. This is a major site by world standards and thoroughly recommended.
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