<< 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 BarrowCountry: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Village: Overbister
Map Ref: HY67663779 Landranger Map Number: 5
Latitude: 59.225478N Longitude: 2.568348W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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drolaf visited on 20th Jun 2022 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 3
DrewParsons Redfun have visited here
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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