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<< Our Photo Pages >> Knowe of Geoso - Chambered Cairn in Scotland in Orkney

Submitted by howar on Tuesday, 09 August 2005  Page Views: 5731

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Knowe of Geoso Alternative Name: Brockan
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Town: Stromness  Nearest Village: Dounby
Map Ref: HY22821792
Latitude: 59.041286N  Longitude: 3.346743W
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
2 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.
2 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
4

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Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Atop mound looking to ?passage. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Chambered Cairn in Orkney

RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21NW 19 is an overgrown eminence of small stones and earth generally called the Knowe of Geoso. It was [?]mistakenly thought to be a broch by association with the dwelling of Brockan in the diagonally opposite corner of a field below [itself now mistakenly placed at the quarry in the adjacent field's corner, Brockan here being a name which like the Hillock of Breakna signifies 'broken (hillside)']. This turf-covered mound despite much 'quarrying' is still about 0.8m high and roughly 25m across, and has barely breaking the surface in the exact centre a 0.4m long slab that could be what remains of a cist. To the SE [i.e. immediate left as you come up from Skaill Home Farm] there lie nine stones of more monumental size in an arc that probably preceded the knowe, having significant weathering and not sharing a commonality of centre with it.
From Skaill House you can see the line of two field walls running from behind Skaill Home Farm (originally The Mount) all the way to the top. From near the site of Brockan (HY23031797, the now dry deepcut streambed that gave its name to the Knowe of Geoso lying in the same field) looking across I saw a low flat hillock and a small peaky mound. When I had a closer look I saw they were the same site viewed looking from the SE along a curving hollow. Which means that from down below the whole of the flattened hilltop is the knowe. So it feels quite large when you get there. I was also surprised to find that from this ridge you can see not only all the way down to the Bay of Skaill and across but also down to the Broch of Borthwick (built on the site of an earlier structure) and beyond. A view as near panoramic as another chambered mound at Hurkisgarth (HY25451770) - perhaps in part these functioned as early precursors to the ward hills?
Though at this time the grass is lower here than at the likes of the Hillock of Breakna the supposed cist slab would still be rendered invisible. There seemed to be various depressions underfoot but the most obvious feature is that deep large curved 'passage' carving up the mound. The knowe is described as "greatly mutilated by quarrying" which I doubt would be the case if this had been a simple mound of earth and small stones. I imagine more obvious stones having been extracted long ago, but there could well be some left below the present ground surface.
Perhaps my assumption of larger stones within the mound does relate to the O.S arc of earthfast stones just outside the area of the mound itself. Not having remembered about these I approached them afresh. What took my eye first was an apparent grouping of three of inconsistent appearance - one of bent bi-cuboid shape, one a small flat rock, the largest cracked and pockmarked - but these were merely the tops of these earthfast stones. Forgot to measure them but the smallest was on the order of a foot across the shortest dimension. This grouping is near the middle left of the mound. Nearer to the southern end lie two triangular stones against each other, one much larger than the other. These rest in a distinct depression that is additionally marked by different vegetation from that surrounding.
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Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Stones resting in depression along arc mentioned by O.S. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : 'Bent' stone closeup - ?shaped. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Opposite view of stone 'cluster'. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Stone 'cluster' in arc alongside mound. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Standing stone 'fence' running over mound, first stone atop shown. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Broad curving 'passage' in chambered cairn - original and/or product of 'quarrying'.

Knowe of Geoso
Knowe of Geoso submitted by howar : Mound seen from quarry.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 539m SE 140° Knowe of Nebigarth* Barrow Cemetery (HY23161750)
 878m NNE 19° Skara Brae* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY2312518745)
 988m SE 136° Knowe of Angerow* Round Barrow(s) (HY235172)
 1.2km SSW 198° Broch of Borwick* Broch or Nuraghe (HY2241416777)
 1.6km SSE 159° South Seatter Round Barrow(s) (HY23391637)
 1.9km N 7° Knowe of Verron* Broch or Nuraghe (HY231198)
 2.2km N 11° Linnahowe* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY233201)
 2.4km SSW 201° Brough of Bigging* Hillfort (HY219157)
 2.6km N 9° Upper Garson* Standing Stones (HY233205)
 2.6km E 94° Hurkisgarth* Round Barrow(s) (HY25451770)
 3.0km NE 41° Russel Howe* Cairn (HY24842016)
 3.5km ESE 120° Via Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (HY25841609)
 3.6km ESE 124° Fiddlerhouse* Standing Stones (HY25771588)
 3.7km ESE 120° Stones of Via* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY260160)
 3.7km ESE 120° Via Mound* Round Cairn (HY26011598)
 3.9km SE 138° Voy.* Ancient Village or Settlement (HY25351497)
 4.0km NNE 16° Vestra Fiold Chambered Cairn (HY240218)
 4.2km NNE 28° Holy Kirk Stones Chambered Cairn (HY249216)
 4.3km NNE 16° Vestrafiold* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry (HY241220)
 4.4km SE 132° Voy Crannogs* Crannog (HY261149)
 5.0km ESE 123° Burroughston 2* Broch or Nuraghe (HY270151)
 5.1km ENE 72° Hackland* Standing Stone (Menhir) (HY27691936)
 5.1km ESE 122° Stackrue-Lyking Mound* Misc. Earthwork (HY27121514)
 5.1km ESE 122° Stackrue* Broch or Nuraghe (HY271151)
 5.3km NE 43° Knowes of Howana Barrow Cemetery (HY26542169)
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Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky: Monuments of Neolithic Orkney

Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky: Monuments of Neolithic Orkney

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"Knowe of Geoso" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Knowe of Geoso by howar on Sunday, 01 October 2006
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If Ward Hill is the same as Ward Head it may be more than coincidence that "boiling stones...were and are found in Sandwick at a place called Blossin, about half-a-mile south of Ward Head, Southerquoy" ("The Orcadian" 15/12/06)
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Re: Knowe of Geoso by howar on Sunday, 01 October 2006
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On the way to Skaill it struck me that the deep excavation arc could have been taken as a robbed broch wall. Or, despite modern misgivings as to the mound's composition and location, perhaps this was exactly what happened, and the antiquarians were privy to personal accounts that haven't come down to us ? Coming back from the Knowe of Angerow popped in here. Looking around a little poking found one of the many stones said to make up this mound. Very distinctly reddened, surely the sign of heating. Considering the number of burns there were on the slopes down from here to Skaill we could well be looking at your typical crescentic burnt mound (te passage and cistoid remains). And its present size could then be down to later additions that changed its nature. Of course it is likely to go even further back, the terminus of a sequence of mounds ?starting with the Knowe of Angerow and continuing with the Knowe of Nebigarth and the Velzian mounds etc.
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