<< Our Photo Pages >> Staneloof - Cairn in Scotland in Orkney
Submitted by howar on Sunday, 10 December 2006 Page Views: 4113
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Staneloof Alternative Name: Ston Loe, Howe of StaneloofCountry: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Cairn
Nearest Town: Kirkwall
Map Ref: HY48330698
Latitude: 58.946909N Longitude: 2.899697W
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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Cairn in Orkney
RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40NE 20 describes a much-quarried earth-and-stone feature about fourteen metres across and a metre high that is covered by peat and shown on the O.S. map as a cairn. Another source (which I cannot find now) says it is presently a height of 0.7m, and that there is another cairn close by. This time I could only approach as far as the field edge just to its east. You can clearly see where a flagstaff stood in WWII. There seems to be confusion whether this or HY40NE 23 is the actual Howe of Staneloof - a "march stone and two witnesses" were in mediaeval times erected at Ston Loe to mark the parish boundary, and if they still can be found would settle the matter. The field to the east is very marshy with a number of grassy surfaces projecting, slightly reminiscent of the area of the Veltigar mounds [I was among these the week before]. These are irregular in shape apart from the one nearest to the fence by the Staneloof cairn.where dark damp material is exposed above water level, perhaps a failed attempt at digging peats in this low circular mound. In the top half of the section the ? black earth looked not unlike sheep droppings [which they aren't]. I picked some up and the texture was surprisingly granular, lots of spheroids like small beads. Only after a few days it occured to me that just maybe this could have been carbonised grain - and perhaps someone has been sampling ? Certainly the exposed material is unlike that at Heathery Howes in structure.
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